The Forlorn Explorer
by Nemorian
Summary: After exploring the whole of Maple Island, a somewhat daft swordsman finds his life getting bland. He finally decides to pack up and leave for Victoria, but will he regret leaving his peaceful life behind?
1. Departure

The sun beamed in through the open window, right into my eyes. I grumbled, rolling over and trying to go back to sleep. I still felt tired, pulling the blanket over my head and wishing it was still night. I swore to myself that today was the day I'd finally leave Maple Island and get a proper job on Victoria. My mind kept telling me to wake up, but my body was refusing to move. I had almost fallen asleep again when someone knocked on my front door. I rolled over again, and fell off the bed head first. I hit my head on the hard wooden floor, the throbbing pain was better than any alarm clock. I rubbed my head, stumbling over to the door and opening it.

"What?" I yawned, scratching my head. The daughter of the couple that lived next door was standing outside. She was a few years younger than me, and seemed to consider me a big brother figure, though I couldn't understand why. I expected her to be here to wake me up and see me off. Instead, she turned and ran off screaming. I stared blankly for a moment, wondering what was wrong. A second later I realized why, I was standing in the doorway in my underwear. I slammed the door shut, and ran over to the dresser, now very much awake.

After getting properly dressed in my grey T-shirt and blue jean shorts, I slipped on my leather sandals and grabbed the sword leaning against the wall by my bed. I glanced at the mirror as I left, my long brown hair was sticking in all directions like a bad wig, but I didn't really care. I pushed up my thin silver-framed glasses and yawned, wondering if I was really ready to leave this all behind. It's not like I had much of a choice though. I was broke, and going to Victoria to find a job was my best bet to earn some cash. After taking one last look around, I grabbed the bag sitting by my door and headed out.

Southperry, the only port town on Maple Island, was a long walk from here. My house was tucked away in the mountains by a waterfall, far from any cities. The only time I went to a town was when I was running low on food and had to make a short trip to Amherst. The only people I ever really got to know were my neighbors, and they were a five minute walk from my front door. I stopped by to say goodbye on my way out, but they didn't seem to be home. After waiting a minute to see if they were just busy, I gave up. I took a notebook from my bag and wrote them a short note, slipping it under their front door before leaving.

I walked slowly along the road to Southperry, occasionally stabbing a snail that got too close, but never really putting any effort into it. This island had gotten boring. It was small, secluded, quiet, and the monsters were pushovers. A vacationers paradise, probably, but not somewhere I'd want to live my whole life. I had explored every nook and cranny of this sad little island over three years ago, and my thirst for adventure had gone unquenched for far too long. I suppose that was the real reason I was leaving, the lack of funds was never a very big issue for me.

I skewered another snail as I passed by the road leading to Amherst. I was going to keep on walking, but noticed someone running down the road and yelling. I stepped aside to let the person pass when he got close, a bit surprised when he skidded to a halt in front of me and started shouting.

"What did you do with her! Speak up!" the boy shouted, brandishing a sword at me.

I just stood there and blinked, wondering what this daft kid was on about, and what idiot would give him a weapon.

"Don't act stupid! Tell me what you've done with her!" he shouted again.

"I think you've mistaken me for someone else. The only things I've done today are fall out of bed, skip breakfast and started a trip to Victoria. Nothing involving anyone else. Now if you'll excuse me..." I turned back to the road leading to Southperry, but the boy dashed in front of me.

"You're Nemo aren't you? The weirdo that lives in the middle of nowhere all by himself?" the boy asked, still pointing his sword at me.

"Who are you calling a weirdo you little punk!" I yelled, grabbing my sword and swinging at his, knocking it out of his hands. "I'm tired of this lame interrogation, what exactly are you accusing me of?"

"Alanis is missing, and her parents said the last time they saw her was before she left to see you, so what did you do to her!" the boy continued to yell, even though he was now defenseless.

"Alanis... you mean my neighbor's kid?" I mumbled, remembering my 'brief' encounter with her this morning. "I saw her for a moment, and she ran off. What do you mean she's missing?"

"Nobody knows where she is, and you seem like the last one that saw her. Where did she go!"

"I can't say for sure, but if I had to guess... probably the small field on the other side of the lake. She told me once that she goes there to think. It's not hard to find, just-"

"WHAT!" the boy shouted. "Are you stupid? That place was infested by orange mushrooms recently! I've got to help her!" He started to run off, but I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt as he tried to pass.

"Now who's being stupid? You'll get yourself killed running into a place like that! I'm used to dealing with monsters, I'll go see if she's even there. You look elsewhere, maybe she's gone back home already." I said sternly. The boy gave me an irritated glare, and then nodded, running back in the direction of Amherst.

The moment he was out of sight, I sighed and started walking back the way I came. "Crap. Why does this have to happen now of all times? No luck at all... always something getting in my way." I grumbled to myself.

I soon came to a fork in the road. One path led back to my house, the other went to the lake. I gave the road home a sad glance before wandering off toward the lake. The sun made the surface of the lake shimmer, the green trees and misty mountaintops under the clear blue sky was a beautiful sight. Most people would probably find this view to be tranquil, or maybe even romantic. I however, was more interested in the four orange mushrooms that had appeared out of the trees and started chasing after me.

I sprinted down the road leading around the lake, the hopping orange pains in my arse still close behind. The road was mostly empty, apart from the occasional snail. I looked over my shoulder and noticed two more had joined the chase, but I couldn't figure out what had made them so angry. They had never acted like this before when I went hunting, but I didn't have much time to wonder about it.

Up ahead were three more of them, but they seemed to be looking at something else. When I got close, I realized they were gathered around someone that was sitting on the ground. I glanced back over my shoulder, the mushrooms were still after me, but a lot farther away than the last time I checked. I turned my attention to the group ahead, unsheathing my sword and getting ready for a fight.

I ran up behind one of the three mushrooms and jumped on it, bouncing off it's cap like it was a trampoline and diving at the mushroom directly across from it. I slashed downward as I landed, splitting the mushroom in half. I turned to the person on the ground, a bit surprised by who it was. Alanis was sitting there, her expression somewhere between shock and relief. I ran by her, slashing a chunk out of one and quickly thrusting my sword into the other. I looked up at the flood of orange coming down the road, cursing under my breath. I spun around, picked up Alanis and charged down the road.

There was a problem, however. I forgot the road came to a dead end at the base of the waterfall. I skidded to a halt, looking around frantically for a place to run. A rocky cliff ahead, a clear blue lake to the left, steep mountains to the right and a horde of killer mushrooms coming up behind us. I was brought to my senses as Alanis pointed out a ledge a short distance up the cliff, it appeared to sticking out far enough to hold a person or two. I found a good area, and sent Alanis up first, in my haste earlier I didn't realize she hadn't even been injured.

I climbed up after her, just as the orange mushrooms arrived and started diving at me. Luckily I got high enough all they hit was the cliff wall. I got to the ledge and sat on the edge, watching the mushrooms hop angrily below. I leaned back and sighed, wondering why I always seem to get caught in such idiotic situations. I glanced at Alanis and smiled weakly, wondering in the back of my mind if we were going to be trapped up here forever.

"I'm glad you're all right." I said, the pathetic smile still on my face.

"I'm glad you're wearing pants this time." Alanis giggled.

"Geez, I save you and that's all you have to say?" I chuckled.

"No, I'm also wondering why you're not on a ship to Victoria by now. Chicken out again?" she grinned.

"Of course not, some psycho kid told me you were missing so I came to find you. Besides, shouldn't you be a bit more worried?" I asked, starting to wonder if she'd hit her head when she fell.

"Nah, we'll be fine! Now that we're out of reach it's only a matter of time until someone comes to help us." she said.

I had forgotten how optimistic she was, it was a bit annoying at times, but she was probably right. "I guess so... looks like I won't be leaving today at this rate." I sighed.

"Things always seem to go from bad to worse for you, don't they?" she laughed.

"I'll say... from some punk brandishing a sword at me, to having to find you, getting chased by a bunch of mushrooms, and then getting stuck up here." I grumbled.

"Wow... it really must suck to be you." she laughed again.

"You have no idea..." I muttered.

A sudden explosion below us shook the ledge we were resting on, bits of mushroom soaring in all directions. I looked down and saw someone holding a bow, waving at us. I leaned over to try and figure out who it was when Alanis rushed forward, bumping so hard I nearly fell off the cliff.

"Hi dad!" Alanis shouted down to the archer.

"That's Clint!" I exclaimed, looking down again.

"You okay Alanis!" The white haired man yelled, it wasn't until I heard his voice that I was positive it was Clint.

"Clint? You never told me you were a hunter!" I shouted down.

"You never asked! Now get down here!"

After explaining things to Clint, leaving out a few minor details, I continued on my way. I was passing by Amherst again, when the same little punk that held me up last time came charging down the road at me again. I groaned, wondering if I should stick around and see what he wants or start fleeing toward Southperry so nothing else will distract me from getting to Victoria today. After reluctantly deciding to wait, I instantly regretted it after hearing the first words out of his mouth.

"Hey weirdo!" he said as he approached.

"That's Nemo, you little brat!" I yelled at him, getting irritated from the constant delays.

"Whatever. You ever find Alanis?" he asked impatiently.

"I found her, she went home, now leave me alone... I have a ship to catch." I grumbled, pushing up my glasses and starting off down the road again.

"Thanks weirdo! I'll be sure to tell my dad he was wrong about you being a reclusive freak that only cares about himself!" the boy called after me, before dashing down the road leading back to Amherst.

"I really hate kids sometimes... geez..." I sighed.

The port town of Southperry was finally in view. I stared at the town for a moment, wondering if it was real or if some other distraction was going to come along. Nothing happened, I didn't jump awake and end up back in bed, the town didn't fade into oblivion or spontaneously burst into a massive fireball, so I knew I couldn't be dreaming. I smiled and dashed toward the town, wanting to leave this island as soon as possible.

I hurried to the dock and purchased a ticket, making my way onto the ship. After looking around for a couple minutes, I walked to the bow of the ship as it left the port. I stared out across the endless sky. The sun was shining brightly, and there was a cool breeze blowing across the deck. I took a deep breath and grinned, that familiar, but long forgotten smell was in the air again. The smell of an adventure.


	2. Job Hunt

I wandered Lith for a long while after arriving. It was a very nice town, but the main reason was because I had no idea where to go next. I was walking along, staring at what looked like a giant potion built into the side of the item shop, when I bumped into someone. Well, not really bumped, more like crashed since we both ended up on the ground.

"Watch where you're going idiot!" a woman shouted. She got up and brushed the dirt off her clothes. She was wearing nothing but black, shirt, pants, boots, gloves... even a rather ugly bandana tied around her head. If it wasn't for her voice, and one of her other... er... qualities, I probably would've mistaken her for a man. "Are you going to stare all day, or apologize?!"

"Ah..." I muttered, coming back to my senses. "S-sorry... I've just... never been here before."

"Great, another tourist. Or are you another of those wannabe adventurers from Maple Island? I swear, we must get a hundred or more a day here. Most of them end up dead, thinking they're all that after taking on the weaklings on Maple. Some of them are so stupid they don't even get jobs before rushing off into the unknown."

"Excuse me..." I interrupted, wondering if she was ever going to shut up. "Do you know where I can get one of those jobs you mentioned?"

"Oh great, you are an adventurer. What's wrong with you people? Don't you ever do research before coming here?" She asked, clearly even more annoyed, if that was possible. I guessed she must have been asked that question a lot.

"Yeah but... I forgot to bring my guide when I left." I mumbled, slightly embarrassed. I had never left the house without it before, and I didn't notice it was missing until I was halfway to Victoria.

She sighed, staring at me for a moment. "Well, if you want to become a thief, go to Kerning City. Warriors are taught in Perion, bowmen in Henesys and mages in Ellinia. Take your pick. Me, I have to be going back to Kerning."

"Wait a sec!" I called out as she started to walk off.

"What now?" She grumbled, glancing back.

"Since you're going to Kerning, is it okay if I tag along?" I asked. I wasn't sure I wanted to become a thief or not, but it seemed like the best place to start.

She hesitated for a moment, then sighed. "Fine, but if you lag behind, you're left behind."

"All right..."

"Good... now, move it." She turned and walked off, I hurried to keep up with her.

"Uh... isn't this cheating?" I asked.

"Don't be stupid. It's quicker." she replied, gazing out the cab window.

"But you said not to lag behind... so I figured you'd be going on foot..."

"I just said that to see if you had guts or not. Most people wouldn't take up a thief on that offer. Not many rookies like you that come from Maple could hope to keep the pace of a thief like me. You're either confident, stupid or both. For all you knew I could've robbed you blind in the middle of nowhere and left you for dead."

I chuckled nervously. "You've got a point there... but I think I'm a pretty good judge of character."

"What're you on about now? Most people run when they see me coming."

"I don't blame them. The look on your face when we first met was pretty scary, but... your eyes show that you're a kind person, no matter how much you want to hide it." I smiled at her, and she gave me an odd expression.

"You know... that's..." Wham! The side of my face hit the window as she pushed my head against it. "...one of the WORST pickup lines I've ever heard!"

"S-sorry..." I mumbled.

"You're pathetic, ya know that?"

"Yeah, I know..."

"Good."

The rest of the trip was spent in silence. I stared out the window as we approached Kerning City in awe, I'd never seen buildings that tall before, it seemed impossible for them to not fall over or crumble under their own weight. The thief must've noticed my expression, because she chuckled a bit.

"You're all the same, you newbies from Maple. Every one of them that see Kerning for the first time get that stupid look on their faces. The same thing can probably be said for Ellinia though. Perion isn't that great in my opinion, and Henesys is pretty average."

"I see... where do I go to become a warrior?"

"Perion. Take the road north from Kerning to get there. I thought you wanted to become a thief though."

"I don't know... I've only ever used a sword, so a warrior seems like the best choice."

"Don't take this the wrong way, but you don't have the build for a warrior. The training would kill someone like you faster than a Balrog would."

"A... what?"

She sighed, shaking her head. "Nevermind. Take my advice newbie, pick something a little easier. Let me see..." she grabbed my left arm and examined it, then did the same with my right.

"Uh... what are you doing...?"

"Decent arm strength... but not enough for a warrior. Hmm..." she glanced at my legs for a moment, then punched me hard in the stomach.

"What was that for?!" I coughed, clutching my stomach.

"Not bright enough for a mage, that much was obvious shortly after we met, but pretty good agility and luck... you'd make a fair thief or bowman."

"Really?"

"Yeah... I have a good eye for these things. You pulled back when I swung at you to soften the blow or dodge, probably a reflex. Plus running into me after getting here had to mean you're pretty lucky."

"I'm not lucky... I get curious and bad things always seem to happen, and then something else happens to make matters worse. I was swept over the waterfall on Maple once, then found myself sore, soaked and at the mercy of two orange mushrooms at the bottom of it. It wouldn't have been that bad if I hadn't lost my sword during the fall. If another person hadn't been training at the base of the waterfall, I'd probably be dead."

"You're very lucky..."

"Are you even listening!?"

"Think about it. You could've been killed a few times then. There could've been rocks at the bottom of the waterfall, you could have been impaled by your lost sword by landing on it, or it landing on you. The impact could have knocked you out, causing you to drown... and of course the mushrooms could have gotten you."

"That's... a lot of coulds." I muttered, leaning back. I hadn't thought about it that much, but she was right. I did evade death a lot during those few minutes.

The cab came to a halt. The thief looked at me and grinned. "You're luckier than you realize. You'd make a good thief all right. Unlike the other newbies I meet, you're all right. I hope we meet again, I have something to take care of now, see ya." With that, she opened the door and left the cab.

"Wait, you never..." I climbed out the door after her, but she had already vanished into the crowd. "...told me your name." I sighed, shutting the door behind me.

I wandered around Kerning for a while, it was fascinating for the first few minutes, then it started to annoy me. There were so many people, and the air smelled funny. I didn't dare try and talk to anyone, most of the people I met seemed... unsociable. The atmosphere helped me decide that becoming a thief wouldn't suit me, no matter how lucky I was. I pushed my way through the crowds, glancing at a group near what looked like a large sewer pipe. They were shouting something about needing another member, not really knowing what it was about, I just ignored them.

After a long search, I found another cab and got a ride to Henesys. Just as I was about to shut the door of the cab someone dove in, quite literally, over me and into the other seat. He spun around and slammed the door shut behind him, tossing the driver a few mesos before ducking down. He was wearing a dark outfit, but had long, bright red hair tied back into a ponytail.

"In trouble again, kid?" The driver chuckled.

"Yeah, yeah... just shut up and drive Ernest." The person said quickly, glancing out the window.

"We're going to Henesys you know..." The diver said as the cab started to move.

"I don't care, anywhere but here is fine with me."

"Um... excuse me but... who are you?" I asked, feeling very confused.

The boy jumped at my voice, then looked back at me as if he didn't even notice I was sitting there when he leapt in. "Oh, sorry about this. I'm just in a bit of trouble. Don't mind me..." he then turned back to the window.

"He's a regular of mine, seems to have a problem paying people back. Still in debt up to your eyeballs, Justin?" Ernest asked with a laugh.

"Yeah, and Yuan's not happy about it. Some of his goons were after me... again." Justin sighed.

"Sucks to be you." Ernest laughed.

"Are you gonna be okay?" I asked.

"I'll be fine. I'll have what I owe them soon, I just have to stop by the marketplace and sell a few things." Justin turned away from the window as the cab reached the Kerning City limits. "What's your story then?" he asked.

"I'm just... looking for a job."

"Another newbie from Maple?"

I sighed after hearing this. "You sound like that thief I ran into in Lith."

Justin chuckled. "Yep, you must be. I'm Justin, a freelance thief, nice to meet ya!"

"It's a pleasure..." I said, a hint of sarcasm in my voice. "I'm Nemo."

We talked for a while, but Justin seemed to spend most of the time complaining about his debt problems. If he was trying to get me to help him out, I was about ready to. Help him fall out of the cab that is. By the time we arrived at Henesys my patience, and sanity, was hanging by a thread.

"I'll be going now, got a bunch of stuff to sell." Justin said, getting out of the cab. "Here, this is for not throwing me out right away like most people do." he grinned, tossing me something before running off.

I glanced down at the green cloth laying on the seat. "A bandana...? Oh well." I muttered, before picking it up and leaving the cab.

I tied the bandana around my head as I walked under what I thought was some sort of front gate into Henesys. I passed by a few mushroom houses, not sure what to think. I wasn't really paying attention to where I was walking, again, and bumped into someone.

"Oh... sorry." I mumbled.

A man in a black and gold robe glanced back at me, his blonde hair half obscuring his dark blue eyes. "Watch where you're going, newbie." he grumbled, shouldering the scimitar in his right hand and walking off.

"At least the people are friendly..." I muttered sarcastically, then sighed. "Maybe I should've stayed on Maple... I could be fishing at the lake with Alanis and Clint right now..."

I started to daydream, but quickly shook those thoughts out of my head. Now was no time to be homesick, I came here for a reason. This was just one thing that stood in my way. I asked the nearest person where to become a bowman, and hurried down the road.

I came to a place called Mushroom Park, but didn't slow down to look around. I wanted to become a bowman so I could focus on other things. It wasn't as difficult as I expected... I found the place near the end of Mushroom Park, had a brief talk with Athena Pierce, the person in charge, and got a book about basic bowman skills. That was all, it seemed almost too easy. I shrugged and wandered out of the park, reading the book she had given me.

After finding the armory and buying a bow and some arrows, I wandered back to the entrance of the city, wondering where to go to get some practice. I overheard a couple of people talking about an area near the gate I passed when I first got to Henesys and grinned, running off to check it out before waiting to hear any details.

It was easy enough to find, but when I got there I was a bit disappointed. All I saw were a few orange mushrooms bouncing around. If I wanted to pick them off, I'd have stayed on Maple Island. I sighed, shooting a few arrows at them. A person suddenly ran by, screaming. I blinked cluelessly as he ran down the path a came from, wondering what was so scary about these wimpy mushrooms. I walked off in the direction he fled from, wasting a couple more mushrooms as I did.

A statue was set at the entrance to another road, it looked like a pig in a suit of armor. I chuckled, wondering who could think up something so daft before heading down the trail. I walked a while without seeing a thing, stopping when I came to a short drop and looking up at a ledge above me. I heard a twig snap below, and glanced down just in time to see a glint of metal as something lunged up at me. I stumbled out of the way just as it landed.

For a second I wasn't sure what to think, it was a pig in armor, just like the statue I had passed by. I couldn't help but laugh, it was one of the most ridiculous things I had ever seen. The pig didn't seem too happy about my reaction, since he promptly charged at me. I leapt over it as it did, still amused.

"Grouchy little porker aren't ya?" I chuckled as it turned to face me again. It squealed loudly, stomping the ground. "Loud too..." another squeal came from behind me. I turned back and saw three more armored pigs rushing in my direction. "Oh... crap."

I noticed a rope hanging down from the higher ledge and hurried up it before the pigs could reach me. Unfortunately by the time I got to the top all four were running around the bottom, and there was no way I could outrun them all the way back to Henesys. I sighed, sitting on the edge and staring down at them.

"Well isn't this familiar... stuck up somewhere because of monsters two days in a row. My luck really is horrid. If the thief was right, someone should be coming to my rescue any second." I muttered to myself, staring down the path back to Henesys. "Any second..." I sat there for nearly and hour, and still no sign of help. I glanced down, all but one of the pigs I encountered had wandered off. The one that remained was staring up at me intently, obviously willing to wait until I dropped dead before leaving.

"Fine, you want to fight?" I shouted down at it, standing up and nocking an arrow. "Eat this!" I fired an arrow, but it simply bounced off the pig's armor. I fired another, and another, shooting like crazy trying to hit a spot without armor. Every time I got a decent shot, the pig moved slightly so the arrow hit it's armor and broke the arrowhead.

"Moron! What are you doing in a place like this?!" A voice yelled.

I jumped at the sudden outburst, nearly falling off the edge. The man I bumped into earlier was walking down the path from Henesys, his huge Scimitar still resting on his shoulder. The armored pig's attention turned from me and it charged the swordsman. "Look out!"

"Annoying iron hogs..." The swordsman complained, blocking it's attack with the side of his sword. "Run now, I can't hold this thing for long!"

"No way!" I shouted. "I'll help you finish it off!" I put away my bow, unsheathed my sword and held it in a backhand grip, taking a few steps back. "Heads up!" I ran forward, leaping off the edge at the pig with my sword in both hands, pointed straight down. I landed on the pig's back, sword tip first. There was a loud crack, and the blade of my sword split in half, the broken bit flying off to the side and sticking into the ground.

The blonde swordsman gave me an irritated look. "I told you to run. If I can't kill this thing, someone like you doesn't stand a chance."

"I guess not." I chuckled nervously, then jumped off the pig and ran for it, dropping the other half of my shattered sword.

I stopped at the gate to Henesys, out of breath and wondering if Victoria was always this exciting. The swordsman walked up beside me a moment later, he looked tired as well, but didn't let it show much. "You all right?" he asked, not even looking at me.

"Not really... that was my favorite sword..." I panted, trying to stand up straight. "Thanks pal, I owe you one."

"You and countless other reckless idiots. I doubt any of you will ever repay me though, I've saved dozens of people and then never seen them again. You're just another one added to the long list." He muttered, starting to walk off.

"Damn, you're mean for a savior." I chuckled, following after him. "What's your name anyway? I'm Nemo."

He hesitated, probably wondering if he should even bother telling me. "I'm... Leon."

"Leon huh? You're probably the best person I met today. It's a shame that..." I trailed off, starting to think.

Leon spoke after a few moments. "A shame that what?"

"Oh... I was gonna say it's a shame nobody ever repays you for saving them, but that's gonna change now!"

"Do I even want to know?"

"I'm gonna go with you, until I can save your life to repay you for saving mine!" I said brightly, grinning at him.

"You can't be serious..." Leon muttered coldly.

"Aw come on, it'll be fun!"

"I work alone, the last thing I need is a stalker."

"Don't be like that. Traveling alone must get boring after a while."

"Ugh... you're one of those stubborn people aren't you?"

"Yep."

And so, I began my adventures with Leon, the fighter with the massive scimitar and unsociable attitude. I know he didn't seem too thrilled about my tagging along at first, but I bet that somewhere, really deep down, he was happy to have a traveling companion.

"I said leave me alone you crazy archer!"

"Hey Leon, what're you running for!? Wait up!"


	3. Tired Depths

"Look out below!" I screamed, falling for a few yards before crashing on the ground in a heap. I groaned, staring across the ground and waiting for everything to come back into focus. The first thing I noticed were the pair of silver grieves a few inches from my face. I looked up, a man in a black dragon robe was standing over me with a half concerned, half disappointed look on his face.

"You really need to learn how to land on your feet, Nemo." He sighed, shaking his head.

"What do you think I am, a cat?" I grumbled, slowly getting to my feet. "You could have at least caught me Leon, not just stood there and watched."

"I only brought you along because you wouldn't leave me alone. You're not really strong enough to be here. Don't do anything stupid, got it?" Leon said as he walked away, his short, puffy blonde hair bouncing left and right with each stride.

"Yeah, yeah..." I sighed, wiping the dirt and leaves from my hard leather pants and boots. "You don't have to remind me. I just enjoy exploring, you knew that when you met me."

"Of course. Most weaker people like yourself would run like hell the moment an iron hog came into view. Not charge past it right into the middle of their territory. I still remember the first time I saw you crouched on that rock, shooting down at them only to have your arrows bounce off their armor like pebbles. You'd probably still be there right now if it wasn't for me, and I regret not leaving you there to rot every single day after that." Leon sighed.

"Damn, you're mean." I laughed, picking a leaf out of my long, messy brown hair. "I told you I'd follow you until I could pay you back for saving my life, and that's what I intend to do!"

"How long ago was that? A year?" Leon asked.

"Don't be daft, it was more like a week, maybe two." I said, straightening the sleeve of my green archer's shirt.

"Is that all? It feels like a year or two. I wonder why...?" Leon mused.

After a short walk we finally arrived at the small city called Sleepywood, it didn't seem to be much of a city in my opinion though. A few houses and such built into the trees. It reminded me of Ellinia, only there wasn't a really high tree to jump off of for fun. I was so absorbed in staring at the town, I hadn't noticed that Leon wandered off. It was a few minutes later when he walked up behind me and tapped me on the shoulder that I realized I had been staring stupidly at the town for nearly ten minutes, and attracted a small group of people who seemed to wonder if I was okay. I thought I heard one of them mutter something about my intelligence, or my sanity, I couldn't be sure

Leon poked me again to get my attention, he had the same expression on his face as before. "You really need to pay more attention to things."

"I do! When we're in a fight I know exactly what's going on around me at all times!" I said stubbornly.

"I mean when you're walking around normally, not just in battles. People are gonna think you have brain damage." Leon sighed, tossing me a small bag. "Hang on to that, you'll probably need it."

"Sure..." I muttered, slipping the bag into my pocket without much thought. The town had caught my attention again, mainly the magician girl with long brown hair in a purple moonlight robe standing on the edge of a platform higher up. I took a couple steps forward to get a more... interesting view, when Leon grabbed the back of my collar and pulled me backwards. "What did you do that for?!" I coughed, my neck sore from being suddenly choked like that.

"Stop being an annoying pervert for five seconds so I can talk to you... I'm going into a dungeon, and you need to wait here." Leon grumbled, still hanging on to my collar. "You can hang around town until I get back, there's some money in that bag I gave you. Use it to get some lunch or go for a sauna or something, just stay in town. You'll end up dead if you wander off in a place like this unprepared. Okay?"

"You get to have all the fun. I was looking forward to an adventure too..." I sighed. "I guess I'll stay around here though, I'm getting hungry anyway."

"Good... you're actually listening to me for once." Leon grinned, releasing my collar. "I should be back in a few hours, take it easy until then." he said, walking off casually.

"See you later Leon!" I said, waving. The moment he was out of sight I sighed. "Man... he gets to have all the fun. Lucky."

I took this time to explore the town a bit. I stopped by the sauna, got something to eat and chatted with a few of the people passing through. It only took about two hours until boredom set in, and I was wishing there was something else to do. I grumbled, walking down the staircase from the sauna and glanced over at the dungeon Leon had entered. I told him I'd stay out, but it was very tempting. If I left the town there could be problems as well, I was pretty much stranded. I was about to give up when I leaned against a door that I thought led to someone's home and fell through as it opened. I rolled down a short staircase and off a ledge onto a small platform. I looked up at the door I fell through and it closed on it's own.

"What is this?" I muttered to myself, looking around. I was on a platform high up, something below was moving but I wasn't sure what it was. I saw a pair of ladders hanging nearby. Since to me it was still basically being in the town, I shrugged off Leon's warning, pulled up my green bandana a bit since it was slipping down over my eyes and pushing down my glasses after the fall, then started down one of the ladders. I passed by a couple places that were covered by green and spiked mushrooms, but they were far enough away and fairly weak, so I wasn't worried. When I made it to the bottom of the ladder there were a couple more mushrooms. I picked them off with my bow without any problems, and continued down another ladder they were in front of.

I continued through the second level of what appeared to be a dungeon without being impressed, nothing particularly interesting that I saw. Of course I did slip off the ladder and fall most of the way, so it was mostly a blur. I didn't find anything lurking on the ground floor here except another ladder down and a few discarded banana peels, so I continued on my way.

The third floor, I stared down for a moment before continuing my decent. If Leon knew I was exploring a dungeon alone, he'd be worried. Oh, who am I kidding? If he knew I was down here he'd probably jump for joy and run like hell out of Sleepywood before I returned. The guy didn't seem to like me, but I still wasn't gonna leave him alone until I found a way to pay him back. My mind's wandering was brought to an end when I saw something odd on the area I was passing by.

Three green one-eyed lizard things were jumping around, and a fourth was just sitting on the edge, staring right at me. It was creepy... it looked like it was grinning at me, and not a friendly grin. It looked like a grin that said, "Hop on over here so I can munch your face for dinner." I was so freaked out by it, my grip on the rope I was hanging on loosened and I slipped, falling almost all the way down. I managed to grab back on to the rope before I hit the bottom, but I slid down it a bit, burning my hand and letting go of the rope again.

I landed on my back, the rope hanging almost ten feet above me. I groaned, sore and irritated. An odd noise made me look up, and I noticed another of those green things standing a few feet away, the same sickening grin on it's face as the last one. I pushed myself along the ground, backing away from it. The monster followed slowly, never taking it's eye off me, or that grin off it's ugly face. I rolled backwards and stood up quickly, taking my bow in one hand, an arrow in the other and taking a shot at it. The arrow simply nicked the monster's tough green scales, but it was enough to piss it off. It lunged at me, and I narrowly avoided becoming a monster munchie. I charged past it toward a rope at the other end of the platform, but to my horror, there was a second of those things standing directly beneath the rope back up. I was beginning to think this was how it would end, when I saw something that was both a blessing and a curse. There was another ladder leading deeper into the dungeon, I grabbed it without hesitation and climbed as fast as I could further down and away from those grinning eyeballs of doom.

I dropped onto the area below and breathed a sigh of relief, I had somehow gotten out of another nearly fatal situation unscathed. I crawled over to the edge, looking down nervously. I got lucky that time, but knowing my usual luck, it wouldn't last long. I decided to go deeper anyway. Yes it was stupid, yes it was reckless, but I didn't really give a damn at the time. My mind was focused on discovering whatever secrets this place could hold, and nothing could change my mind once it was set on something like this.

I gripped the rope tightly and started to climb again, into what I thought was the fourth floor. I passed by a few more of those green things, but they didn't really interest me as much as the other two things I saw. There was some kind of odd looking ghost floating around. It didn't look very dangerous, but after traveling with Leon for a while I realized just how deceiving appearances can be. The other thing I saw was massive, a golem. I had seen one before, on my way from Henesys to Sleepywood with Leon I saw one lurking in a pit. It was different now though, the stones looked different, darker. Something told me the ones down here were much worse than the ones near Henesys. Being as sneaky as I could given my vocation, I somehow managed to slip by them and down another ladder into the fifth floor of the dungeon.

I took a moment to relax, peering down into the depths of the dungeon. There was an area below with no monsters, but something unusual was floating just above it. I climbed down and jumped from the ladder to the platform, walking cautiously over to the glowing object. Even when I was standing right in front of it, I had no idea of what it could be. It was some kind of black and white swirling vortex, but it was too far out of reach. There was nothing to do anything but stare at it, go back up the ladder and try to escape, or keep going down. As usual, I chose the most suicidal choice of them all, continuing into the abyss.

After one final glance back at the vortex, I jumped onto a rope and started working my way down again. When I came to the bottom, there was a lone golem stalking the area. The moment it wasn't looking I dropped down and bolted for the next ladder. I got on it without any trouble, and took one step down before I saw what was waiting below. Golems, ghosts... those freaky green things that have a permanent grin plastered on their face. The worst thing of all though, was that I didn't see another ladder down anywhere. I had arrived at the bottom of the dungeon, but had nothing to show for it.

I turned to go back up, but the lone golem I saw had other plans for me. It was standing right on top of the ladder, blocking my only escape. I cursed under my breath and waited for it to move, but it seemed adamant on staying put. There I was, a monster menagerie directly below me and a rock with an attitude problem waiting up above. I sighed, wondering how I was supposed to get out of this bind when bits of rock sprinkled down from above. Someone, or something, was attacking the golem. It slowly stepped away from the ladder and I quickly climbed up.

I half expected to see Leon hacking away at it with his Scimitar, but I was wrong. A familiar girl with long brown hair was slicing bits off of it with a magic claw spell. It took me a moment to realize why she looked familiar, she was the girl I saw earlier in the purple moonlight robe, and she didn't seem to be doing too well against the golem. She suddenly stopped using her magic, and was digging through her pockets for something. I didn't take the time to think things through, my body moved out of reflex and I began firing arrows wildly at the golem's back. They shattered like twigs underfoot, but I did manage to draw it's attention away from the mage. The only problem was, now it was after me and I had nowhere to run.

I backed away slowly, continuing to fire arrows at it in vain. I stumbled over a root sticking out of the ground, and the golem took that opportunity to take a kick at me. I was able to regain my balance and jump backwards, but I wasn't able to dodge the attack, just soften it, and even then I skidded across the ground a short distance from the force of the blow. I groaned from the throbbing pain in my body, trying to get back on my feet. I could barely move, and the golem was still coming. That's when I noticed the bag on the ground nearby, the one Leon had given me. It must have slipped out of my pocket when I landed. I grabbed it and moved back as far as I could, looking through the bag's contents. The slowly growing feeling of hopelessness faded almost instantly when I saw one of the things Leon had given me. A return scroll for Sleepywood.

I looked up at the mage, who seemed to be panicking even more than before and still going through her pockets. I held up the scroll so she could see it, and she stopped searching for whatever she was after. She pulled a scroll out of her pocket as well, obviously knowing where she keeps at least one thing. She used the scroll and vanished, I made sure she had escaped before using my own to teleport out, just as the golem was within arm's reach.

The dungeon faded like a bad dream, and I appeared back in Sleepywood outside the sauna house. The scroll crumbled to dust, and I laid back on the grass and closed my eyes, still aching from the golem's kick. I felt woozy, I couldn't tell if I was going to fall asleep, pass out or drop dead, the way I felt any of them sounded better than laying here in pain. A sudden easiness came over me, and the pain stopped. Before I could even wonder if I had died, someone grabbed my shoulder and began to shake me. A woman's voice seemed to echo in my head, but it only seemed that way because I was half asleep. I opened my eyes and saw a pair of golden ones were staring back at me. The girl that had helped me escape the dungeon was crouching over me, smiling.

"You're alive... thank goodness." she said.

"It's you again..." I muttered, still a bit out of it.

"Oh, you remember me?" she smiled, helping me sit up. "I saw you and some other guy before, you were staring at me."

"Oh geez... you saw me?" I stuttered, sure my face was turning bright red.

"Yeah, I wanted to talk to you after your friend left, but I lost track of you. Until I saw you fall into the Sleepy Dungeon of course. I waited at the door after you fell through, thinking you would come straight back up. I was wrong though, you were crazy enough to brave the dungeon alone, and actually make it all the way to the bottom. You're a grade-A lunatic, Mr. Archer." She laughed.

"You were daft enough to follow me, what does that make you?" I laughed. "By the way, my name's-"

"Nemo!" A familiar voice shouted. Leon was walking toward us, looking as serious as ever. "You finally find someone else to annoy? I'm surprised this girl's even talking to you, doesn't she know you tried to-"

"Shut UP Leon!" I yelled, throwing the empty bag at him.

He caught it and smirked. "Used the scroll huh? I knew you couldn't stay put for long. I'm gonna head in the sauna for a bit to relax after all that fighting, see you in an hour or so." Leon waved, walking into the sauna building.

"Um... what was he talking about?" the girl asked, a bit confused.

"Don't mind him, Leon's a bit... odd." I chuckled nervously.

"Oh... oh! I almost forgot, I'm Kiro. Nice to finally meet you properly." she smiled again.

"Nice to meet you too. Thanks for saving me back there, now I owe you one as well."

"Owe me one what?"

"You saved my life. I have to repay you somehow, don't I?"

"Oh... well I..." Kiro stuttered. "You don't owe me anything, I'm a cleric, I was just doing my job..."

"A cleric? Clerics stand back and heal the wounded, not appear out of nowhere and start hammering away at a golem like that." I chuckled.

"You've got a point... and if you really want to help me out..." Kiro began, but seemed to trail off.

"What can I do?"

"I don't really have anywhere to go, I just wander around aimlessly getting hired on as a healer whenever someone is going somewhere to train or hunt. It gets tiring after a while. Would it be okay... if I joined with you and your friend for a while?"

I wasn't sure how to respond, mainly because Leon seemed to be grouchy enough with just me following him. Not to mention that I couldn't believe someone other than Leon and myself were wandering around without a destination in mind. "You can follow me if you want to. I'm just following Leon until I can find a way to pay him back for saving my life as well. I seem to get into trouble a lot." I grinned.

"That's great... finally I won't be alone all the time..."

I told Leon that Kiro would be coming along as well. He didn't seem too thrilled with the idea at first, but after telling him about what had happened down in the Sleepy Dungeon he said it would probably be good to have someone to baby-sit me, and I promptly slapped him in the back of the head for that remark. After preparing some supplies, the three of us headed out of Sleepywood, and went back to doing what we do best. Wandering Victoria Island, and taking on anything that comes our way.

"So... where are we headed next Nemo?"

"How should I know? Ask Leon."

"Far away from you is where I'd like to go, no such luck though."


	4. Flying Sparks

"Ohh... that was gross. I'm covered in goo now. My poor hair..." Kiro said, wiping herself off.

"It sure was fun though. I hope we can do something like that again. Ah, Kiro, you missed a bit." I pulled a glob out of her hair and threw it on the ground.

"You have a strange concept of 'fun' Nemo." Leon commented.

"Well you're the one that made it so messy." I said, flicking more bits of blue slime off my sleeve. "You're pretty vicious when you get going, ya know that?"

Leon slammed the back of his scimitar against the ground, making the layer of ooze that coated it splatter onto the ground. His right arm and most of his front was drenched in slime as well. "I know, that's why I spent most of my time alone. Most people were afraid of me after seeing me fight. I'm just glad you're not a hunter yet, exploding arrows would have made things a lot worse."

"That's true, we'd all have probably drown in goop." Kiro laughed.

"Aww, come on. I'm not that crazy with my bow." I complained.

"You almost hit me more than once... if you were using exploding arrows, I'd look like that by now." Leon said, gesturing to the puddle of slime he knocked off his sword.

"He's got a point, you should really work on your marksmanship Nemo." Kiro said, shaking what little bit of slime there was off her mithril wand.

"Wha... but... I... crap. I guess you're right." I sighed, walking up the staircase.

"I'd spend more time gloating about actually getting you to listen to reason for once, but I need a shower or something..." Leon said, sprinting up the stairs and out of sight.

"I'm with him... you're lucky you were able to keep your distance from most of the splatter. See you in a bit Nemo." Kiro said quickly, hurrying after Leon.

I sighed again, scaling the remainder of the staircase rather slowly. The light outside blinded me for a second after I left the Kerning subway. I looked around the city, wondering what I should do while I wait for them. I shook my head and wandered off to the east side of the city.

After a while, I found myself on the arm of a crane high above the city. How I managed to get up here without someone telling me to leave was a mystery to me. Still, it gave me a great view of the city. I walked along it, jumping from the tip to a second crane near the end of the first. The people far below were running around, not even looking up. I felt a bit sorry for them, none of them seemed to take the time to gaze up at the clouds and daydream once in a while. It may not have been a profitable way to spend time, but it was nice in it's own respect.

I came to the end of the second crane, and stared down at the road below. In Ellinia, you could leap off the top of the city and land at the bottom fairly painlessly thanks to the large leaves and soft ground that would slow your decent and cushion your landing. Here however, if you jumped or fell, the only thing to greet you would be the hard pavement, or maybe the head of an unfortunate passer-by.

A cool breeze blew my hair into my eyes, I quickly brushed it back and pushed up my glasses. I was about to turn to find a way back down when I heard someone behind me shout.

"Stop! Don't jump!"

"Huh? WHOA!" I fell backwards and landed hard on the arm of the crane as someone grabbed my collar and pulled. "Oww..." I grumbled, rubbing my head. "I wasn't gonna jump, moron! I was just..." A familiar face came into focus, and made me trail off.

"It's... you. You look different in that outfit, newbie." The black-haired thief grinned.

"It's thanks to your advice, thief or bowman. I think this suits me better, I look better in green than black anyway. By the way, my name isn't newbie... it's Nemo." I said, giving her a slight grin back. The pain in my back and head were keeping me from being too excited about seeing her again.

"Close enough." She grabbed my hand and pulled me back onto my feet. "I'm Mina, sorry for not introducing myself before, but I was a bit distracted back then."

"Odd name for a thief, isn't it?"

"Look who's talking, your name is just plain odd." She chuckled.

The two of us made our way down off the crane and back to solid ground. We found one of the benches around the city and sat down to talk, but before we could even get started Kiro came running up.

"Nemo! Leon... oh, who's this?" She asked, looking at Mina.

"Kiro, Mina. Mina, Kiro." I said quickly, wondering why she had dashed over. "Now what's this about Leon?"

"He found us a job!"

"Not another one from that psychopath Nella I hope..." I grumbled.

"No, it's for one in Lith. We're supposed to go there and talk to someone named... uh... I forget, but Leon has all the info. We better hurry before he leaves without us!" She said, then ran off toward western Kerning before I could reply.

"Sorry, Mina... but she has a point. Leon would probably like nothing more than to ditch me here. I can't leave him alone yet. See you some other time." I said, before hurrying after Kiro.

Leon was walking out of Kerning when I caught up to him and Kiro. He glanced over his shoulder at me, with his normal serious expression. "Who's that?" he asked.

"Huh?" I looked back and saw Mina behind me. "Oh... uh..."

"Moron... you need to stop trying to pick up every girl you come across. You actually get ones stupid enough to follow you occasionally." He said coldly, looking back at the road ahead.

"Blondie has quite an attitude doesn't he? Tell me, is that giant sword actually useful or are you just trying to compensate for something?" Mina asked.

Leon didn't reply, or react at all, but Kiro looked a bit confused. "What do you..."

"Don't ask Kiro... trust me on this." I said, trying not to show I found it amusing. The last thing I wanted was Leon to be any more annoyed with me. "Why are you following me anyway?"

"I heard you mention Lith, and I have business there anyway. If blondie doesn't like it, too bad." Mina said stubbornly.

"She's not a good match for you Nemo. They say opposites attract, you two are too much alike." Leon muttered.

"What exactly do you mean by that?" Mina asked, giving him an annoyed look.

It continued like that during most of the trip, but luckily by the time we got to Lith nothing was being said. I glanced from Leon to Mina nervously, wondering if they were going to start going at it again now that we had arrived. Kiro was walking beside me, smiling and looking around at the town, how she could not feel the tension between Leon and Mina made me wonder if she was really carefree or really dense.

"Ah, there's who I'm supposed to meet." Mina said, pointing at someone ahead.

Leon looked at where she was pointing and scowled. There was a rather grouchy looking old man in a red bandana near the dock, going through a bucket of dead fish. "You do NOT mean John. That's what we're here for."

"Oh no..." I muttered, knowing what was coming next.

A moment later Leon and Mina began arguing about who had the right to his job, while Kiro stared at them with a clueless expression on her face. "What's wrong with them?" she asked.

"They're both idiots... fighting over something like that. We've gone a long time without jobs before, what so special about this one?" I sighed.

"I don't know... but... can't we all just take the job? The more, the merrier... right?" Kiro said with a smile, before walking over to the old man with the red bandana. "Excuse me sir, are you John?"

The man glanced up from the bucket at her. "Aye, what do you need lass?" he asked in a rather rough tone.

"The four of us heard about a job you had for any willing adventurers. We'd like to take it." Kiro said, still smiling brightly.

"Oh, you're here for that? Some bowman got here just before you did, I already gave the job to him." John said, setting down his bucket.

"Well isn't that just our luck." I sighed. "Oh well."

"I suppose... if ten were nice... fifty would be grand." John muttered.

"Fifty what?" Kiro asked.

"I asked the boy that came here before you to get me ten pink violas from the Deep Forest of Patience near Sleepywood, but if each of you got ten as well... that'd make her day." John smirked. "All right, you're hired. Each of you bring me ten pink violas as well... I'll be waiting."

"Thank you sir!" Kiro said, bowing slightly before running over to Leon, who was still arguing with Mina and not even noticing our chat with John. "Come on Leon!" she grabbed his hand and pulled him along toward the entrance of Lith.

"What the..." Mina mumbled, watching as Kiro tugged him along and ignored his shouts to let him go.

"You too Mina!" I said quickly, grabbing her hand and doing my best to copy Kiro.

"What's the big idea?!"

"We all got the job, ten pink violas from the Deep Forest of Patience each. Piece of cake!"

"That's great... you can let go of my hand now."

"Do I have to?"

"Remove it or find out how hard it is to shoot a bow with one hand. Your choice."

"Subtle, aren't you?" I laughed, quickly letting go of her hand and running to catch up with Leon and Kiro.

The four of us traveled southeast to Henesys, stopping long enough for me to pick up some more arrows and a rather spiffy Composite Bow. After that we headed north along the road to the dungeon, and climbed down to the Sleepywood gate. Well, they climbed at least, I fell off the edge and landed hard on the ground like my last visit here. Mina asked someone about where to find the Deep Forest of Patience, and pointed us in the direction of an odd statue-stump-thing in the middle of town.

Mina approached it and crouched down, looking it over. "How's this thing work?"

"I think you should ask someone else... that guy must've been joking Mina." I said.

"She's too gullible, believing something that daft." Leon muttered.

"Shut up blondie." Mina grumbled.

"Oh come on, it must be here." Kiro said, walking over to the statue and crouching down to face it. "Pardon us statue, but could you take us to the Deep Forest of Patience? We need to get some pink violas for Mr. John back in Lith."

The rest of us, even Leon, gave her a look that clearly said we wondered if she was mentally stable. Before anyone could offer Kiro the name of a good psychiatrist, there was a flash of light from the statue and Sleepywood disappeared.

We were now in the middle of a massive forest. There were a few small floating platforms nearby, but nothing that looked like a flower. I scratched my head, wondering where to go from here. "Any idea where these things are?"

"According to the guy I got info from, up." Mina said, looking up at the colossal trees around us.

The moment she did there was a scream from one of the higher areas. Someone could be seen falling, directly at Leon. He stepped casually to the side and the person hit the ground with a thud. Leon sighed, glancing down at the person on the ground. "Now it's raining idiots... just my luck."

"Oh no! Are you okay?!" Kiro cried, running over to help the person up.

"Ohh... my aching everything..." the person moaned, sitting up. It was a boy in an archer's outfit similar to my own, but with a feathered hat instead of a bandana. He removed his hat and rubbed the rather nasty bump on his upper forehead. "That wasn't fun... wait... where's my- OW!" there was a clunk as something hit him on the head, then landed next to him. "Crossbow..."

"You'll be okay in a second. Heal!" A flash came from the tip of Kiro's mithril wand, and the lump on the archer's head vanished.

"Thanks." He sighed, putting his hat back on and picking up the crossbow at his side. "This place sucks." he muttered, getting to his feet and looking up. "I regret ever taking that job for John."

"So you're the other guy he was talking about." I said, crossing my arms. "I wondered if we'd bump into you."

"What, you guys were sent here for those flowers as well?" the archer asked, giving me a confused look.

"Yep. He sent us after ten flowers each, crazy huh?" Mina sighed.

"Quite frustrating... " Leon muttered.

"Great. Oh well, best of luck to you." The archer said, walking over to the makeshift stairway of floating platforms leading higher.

"Aren't you going to at least tell us your name? I think you owe at least Kiro that much for healing you." I said, a bit annoyed.

"It's okay Nemo, don't worry about it." Kiro said quickly, then turned to the archer and smiled. "I'm just glad to help you."

The archer looked over his shoulder at Kiro, then smirked. "Name's Austin. Thanks for the help, miss Kiro." he said, before starting to jump from one platform to the next and steadily getting higher.

"I suppose we should follow him." Mina said, before heading up after Austin.

"Are you going to be able to climb with that Scimitar weighing you down Leon?" Kiro asked, clearly not having seen the agile side of him like I have.

"Worry about yourself." Leon said bluntly, jumping up easily.

"You don't have to be rude to her Leon." I grumbled.

"Don't worry about it. He's not good at showing he cares, but he does somewhere deep down... I'm sure of it!" Kiro said enthusiastically.

"I think that's just wishful thinking... or being delusional." I muttered, following Kiro up the ledges.

It wasn't as difficult as it looked, Mina had soon passed Austin and left all of us behind. I thought I heard him mumble something about thieves, but I was too far away to hear properly. We all got to the top without much trouble. I had thought I heard something whiz by my head a couple times on the way up, but figured it was just a bug or something, we were in a forest after all.

I looked up when I was at what I thought was the top, then whimpered slightly seeing the ledges lead even higher. Austin shouted something, and then dove to the ground just as what appeared to be a green piece of fuzz slightly larger than my fist flew over his head. "I almost forgot, watch out for those damn things!" he yelled down to us.

"Hmph... no overgrown lint ball will stop me." Leon said seriously, holding up the side of his scimitar to block one that was coming at him. It hit his sword and knocked him backwards off of the platform he was standing on, luckily there was another just below where he fell. He thrust his sword into the ground when he landed so he wouldn't fall again.

"Don't be reckless! Those things are more dangerous than you think!" Austin called down as he ducked another green fuzzball.

We continued up, and lost sight of Austin as well. It was back down to the three of us. Leon was leading the way, clearly annoyed that he couldn't just cleave through them. Kiro, who was humming as she casually avoided the fuzzies of doom. And at the end, myself, moving only when I thought I could make it.

I jumped to the next platform, and saw something large, fuzzy and red just before it hit me in the face. I was thrown backwards and hit the ledge behind me with a thud. I coughed up a few chunks of red fuzz as Kiro came back to see if I was okay. I pulled some fuzz out of my nose and told her never to stop and smell the fuzzies before we continued on our way.

After countless more near misses, the top was in view. Austin and Mina were already there, Leon was getting close as well. I ducked another red fuzzball and picked up the pace. I got to the top a moment after Kiro, who stopped so abruptly I bumped into her and almost stumbled over the edge.

"Look at... all the pink!" Kiro exclaimed, running forward. A patch of flowers was growing here, all of them bright pink.

"Are you sure they're the right ones though?" I asked, bending over to examine them.

"They are, I got a sketch of them from someone in Sleepywood." Austin said, showing it to me.

"They are nice..." Mina muttered, picking a few.

Leon was picking a few as well, with an odd look on his face. "I hate... flowers..." he grumbled.

"Aw come on, they aren't that bad." I said.

"They just... ah..." Leon sneezed loudly, stumbling a bit. "Ugh... my allergies are going nuts. Can we go soon?"

"So you do have a weakness..." Mina said with a grin.

"Of course I have a weakness, I'm only human. Now shut up and get your flowers so we can leave." he sniffled, sneezing again. "Damn it..."

We all gathered up our flowers, and I grabbed a couple extra. I was about to start trying to climb back down when Austin pointed out there was a way straight back to Sleepywood. He jumped over to another platform higher up and vanished in a flash. Leon quickly followed after him, along with the rest of us.

Just as Austin said, we appeared back in Sleepywood, right next to the statue that sent us there in the first place. The five of us hurried back to Lith, gave our pink violas to John and got our rewards. We headed out of Lith toward the fork in the road.

"What the plan now, Leon?" Kiro asked brightly.

Leon just grumbled something, still not feeling too well.

"Man, you really need some medicine for that." Austin commented.

While they were distracted I reached into my pocket. "Hey Mina, I got one for you too." I said, offering her one of the extra pink violas I grabbed.

"Oh... uh... no thanks. Sorry, I'm not much of a flower person." Mina mumbled.

"Ah... all right. I suppose it wouldn't be practical for a thief to have anyway." I chuckled.

"Hey blondie, where're you lot headed next?" she asked, speeding up to catch Leon.

I sighed, then walked over to Kiro, who was staring off into the sky. "Er... Kiro? I got an extra flower for you... if you want it."

"Really? Thanks!" Kiro said, smiling. "I didn't even think about getting one for myself until we had left."

"Y-you're welcome..." I stuttered. "Did Leon ever say where we were headed?"

"Yep. I heard him mention Kerning, but Austin's headed back to Henesys."

"Kerning... I really hope it's not a job for Nella again..."

And so, we were off again. At least for once we had a destination in mind, I just wish we could find another employer... Nella's jobs tend to border on suicidal. Still, at least we had a steady income for once. I just wish I knew if things were ever going to change, it's not like we could be freelancers forever, right?

"Hey guys! Looky what Nemo gave me!"

"A... hey! You jerk! I refuse and you give it to Kiro?!"

"I see you have a bit of a player in your group... keeping your options open eh?"

"W-what?! It's not like that Austin! I just... wait, Mina, not the face! OW!"

"...I HATE flowers..."


	5. Misfits and Miscreants

Chapter 5: Misfits and Miscreants

"I hate being alone... it's just so boring." I grumbled to myself as I walked by the path that led to Lith and continuing on toward Henesys. We had taken a job for someone in Henesys a while ago, and one of the things we had to get were octopus legs. They were easy enough to get, Leon knew a good place to find them by Kerning, but by the time we finished he was complaining about how long it would take getting one thing at a time. After a slightly long discussion, we decided to split up to find everything.

Leon was going back to Sleepywood, saying there was a place to get charms of the undead near there. Kiro was sent to find leaves around Perion, though she didn't seem too thrilled about being left on her own again, even though she agreed to it. I was stuck with the job of seeking out squishy liquids, which Leon advised I could find in a place between Henesys and Ellinia. I hated the idea of leaving him, worried he'd try and take the opportunity to ditch me. Luckily I didn't worry too much, I may not have known much about his past, but I knew enough about his personality after spending this long with him. There's no way he'd abandon a job, even if the upside was abandoning me along with it.

I continued down the road, waving weakly at other travelers as we passed. I sighed, turning my attention to the ground as I trudged along. It felt like Henesys was miles off, or that I was walking in circles. A rather daft thought came to my mind, maybe I wasn't even on the right island anymore. Maybe somehow I got magically transported back to Maple Island when I was staring vacantly at the ground. I chuckled to myself, the thought of it was just absurd. That's when I heard a faintly familiar voice call out from behind me. "Nemooooo! Is that you?!"

I froze at the sound of her voice, young and cheerful. It couldn't be. I turned slowly on the spot, my eyes focusing on a girl a few years younger than myself running up to me, her short, brilliant red hair looking almost like fire for a moment. My jaw dropped... there was no way it could be her... not here. "What... are... is that you, Alanis?" I stuttered, feeling extremely confused.

"I knew it was you!" Alanis smiled, glancing over her shoulder. "It is him! I told ya, Dad!"

An older man with long, snow-white hair and silvery-blue eyes was following her, a bow in his right hand. He looked me over and grinned. "Well I'll be... the hopeless swordsman became a hopeless archer. Get inspired after seeing me in action, did ya?" He asked with a laugh.

The question didn't register in my mind, I was still unable to understand just what was going on. "Clint? What are you two doing here? I mean... wait... I didn't end up back on Maple somehow did I?!" I asked, the confusion and worry apparent in my voice.

"Some things never change, you're as much of a bonehead as ever." Alanis giggled. "Don't worry, you're still on Victoria. My Dad and I are here to visit my Uncle that lives in Henesys, Mom didn't come since she had other stuff to do... or so she said. I think she just doesn't like my Uncle... but that's not important right now, I never expected to see you here! Well, I did at first, but Dad told me Victoria was huge, so I tried not to get my hopes up."

"To be honest, I didn't expect to see you again... until I went back to Maple at least. This is quite a surprise." I said, grinning. It was odd, I hadn't really noticed how much I missed Alanis and Clint until now. Memories from Maple came flooding back as I talked to them again, Clint teaching me how to fish, Alanis scolding me for killing "poor, defenseless little snails" without a hint of remorse, and the three of us wandering through the forest together occasionally. Clint's voice and a tug on my sleeve made my journey down memory lane end abruptly.

"Come along, we can talk while we walk." He said, pulling me along. "My Brother is expecting us before dinner, I'm sure I can talk him into letting you join us if you'd like, Nemo. He's a kind fellow, despite the impression he may give people."

"Oh... I'd like to, but I have work to do. I can't really stop that long, sorry." I said, feeling a bit depressed. It would have been nice to talk with them for the whole day, but Leon would probably throttle me if I didn't have the liquid by the time he got to Henesys.

"That's quite all right. Now, tell us, what happened since you left the dull shores of Maple?"

The three of us talked for a long while during the walk to Henesys. It was going smoothly, until we encountered a group of walking, ill-tempered pork chops. Mind you, they weren't strong, especially not with Clint armed. He literally blew most of them away, while I picked off the rest. We whittled their numbers down to one in no time.

"Want the honors, Clint?" I asked, prodding one of the arrows in my quiver lightly, ready to react if the pig charged before he answered.

"Nah, show me what you can do." Clint said, giving me a nod.

"All right." I quickly nocked the arrow and took aim at it's' head. I was about to shoot when a booming voice pierced the air.

"Evil swine! My axe of justice shall be your undoing!" It said. A flurry of cloth dropped from the sky, landing in front of the pig. In a flash of metal and blood, the pig collapsed onto the ground dead.

"Who the hell? This a friend of yours, Nemo?" Clint asked.

A man with messy brown hair was facing the fallen pig. He was wearing a flowing black cape with a golden hem, and was wielding an axe in his left hand. I thought I could see the glint of golden boots near the bottom of his cape as well. "I am glad I arrived in time to save you three. It is my duty, after all." He said calmly.

"Your... duty? Are you like a superhero or something? Cool!" Alanis exclaimed.

"The title superhero is far too extravagant for someone like myself. I simply seek out those doing wrong and do everything in my power to make it right. I am the guardian of Victoria... the axe of justice... the Dark Dragon!" He shouted, spinning around to face us and raising his axe in the air in a rather ridiculous pose. I felt my jaw drop once again, but this time for a very different reason. He was wearing a black mask over his eyes, plain white vest, and boxer shorts. To top it off, the boots I saw weren't gold, they were just yellow... and made of rubber.

The three of us stood there from a few moments in a stunned silence, staring at him. "Forget what I said about cool... he looks like a total dork." I heard Alanis mutter.

"Oh yes! I mustn't forget my faithful partner Blaze!" Dark said, looking around. "Now where could he have gotten to?" A second later something red fell from the sky and landed on Dark's head. For a moment I thought it was a red helmet of some sort... then I realized it was alive. "Blaze, there you are!" Dark said happily, reaching up to pat the shell of the red snail that was perched upon his head. "Come along, hurry and find other forces of evil to slay! Onward!" He shouted, running off in the direction of Henesys.

"That was... unusual." Clint said, coming to his senses.

"Are all the people on Victoria crazy?" Alanis asked.

"Well, most of them sure aren't normal." I sighed.

"I bet you fit in pretty well here then, being as weird as you are." She joked, continuing down the road.

"Aww, that's just mean."

"It's the truth!" She laughed,

"I know it is, but it's still mean to say it." I retorted, grinning.

We arrived at Henesys far too quickly in my opinion, and parted ways halfway through town. After stopping to purchase a few more arrows for the upcoming battle, I adjusted my bandana and glasses before making my way to the road that led to Ellinia. I had just reached the city limits when another familiar voice rang out.

"Yo, Nemo!" I turned to see a fellow archer with a crossbow running over. "You on your own? I bet those girls ditched you for messing with them, huh?"

"Don't be stupid. We've split up for a mission. Besides, Mina isn't part of our normal group anyway. What are you doing here, Austin?" I asked, continuing to walk.

"I'm heading to Ellinia to meet someone, mind if I join you?"

"Nope. I'm only going as far as a place called slime tree though."

"Why would you want to go to a place like that?"

"Normally I wouldn't, but that's what I got chosen to do." I sighed. Leon was the one that suggested it be me that take the slimes. I would've favored the stumps myself, they weren't as dangerous. Of course, that meant Kiro would be the one taking the slimes, and she wasn't exactly built for overwhelming numbers. I wasn't either, really, but I'd be better off than her. It made me think for a moment that Leon might have had her best interests at heart... then I figured he was probably just trying to off me.

"You must have bad luck or something, being chosen to hunt slimes alone." Austin said with a laugh.

We continued to the forest without much trouble, apart from a few pigs and stumps. After splitting the sticks we got from the stumps, I know it sounds silly... but it's an archer thing, we parted ways and I climbed up to the lowest opening on what Austin had pointed out as the slime tree. I climbed through the hole in the side of the massive tree, and was greeted by the sight of countless green slimes hopping about. I sighed, readied my bow and began the fight.

They were weak, but the number of them got overwhelming rather quickly. I barely had time to collect the liquid before being bombarded by slimes again, I had only managed two dozen before getting tired, but even that seemed impressive to me considering the circumstances. I started back toward the opening in the tree, hoping to get a little rest on one of the branches outside. Unfortunately, I had gotten in so deep there was a small army between myself and the way out. I nocked an arrow and leapt down from the ledge I had been standing on, squishing one by landing on it and shooting another. That seemed to be the signal for all of them to rush me.

I was able to pick off a couple more, but after that they were so close I didn't have time to reach my quiver before another attacked. I bashed a few of them with my bow, but kept getting knocked backwards as one slammed into me a split second after I whacked one of them. I was up against the wall before long, and they outnumbered me ten to one. I kept reaching for my sword out of reflex, only to end up grabbing air.

Just as another one prepared to lunge at me, there was a faint flash of something and bits of slime splattered in all directions. For a second I thought maybe they had self-destructed in a bizarre attempt to finish me off, until I noticed the person standing amongst the devastation. A boy shook some of the slime off, tapping his Viking sword against the ground and knocking the remnants of slime from it. He wiped a few more bits from his blue sergeant armor and steel shield before looking up at me and grinning.

"You okay?" He asked, his oversized Viking helmet beginning to slip down over his face.

"Of course he is. Archers may not be as strong as your sort, but they're still tough." Austin said, appearing from around the fighter and pulling me to my feet. "I figured you could use a hand, looks like I was right."

"Yeah, thanks Austin and... er... who are you?" I inquired, looking over the fighter again. "You're dressed almost as badly as the lunatic I met earlier."

"Hey! This is normal fighter armor!" The horned boy said.

"I'm glad Mina talked me out of becoming a fighter then." I chuckled.

"Knock it off you two." Austin interrupted. "Nemo, this is my little brother Lucas."

"Who're you calling little? I'm three inches taller than you." Lucas grumbled.

Austin ignored him. "I know first hand that archers aren't meant to take on this many monsters at once, unless they're a hunter. That's why we're here."

"No kidding... if you two hadn't shown up I'd have been in trouble. Still, I always have this to fall back on." I said, pulling a return scroll for Henesys out of my pocket.

"Why didn't you use that when they were trying to use you as a trampoline?" Lucas asked.

"Well... I forgot I had it." I said with a laugh.

"Hopeless..." Austin mumbled. "Let's just hurry up here."

"You got it. It doesn't take me long to collect stuff in a place like this, I'll be done in no time. You guys head outside and relax." Lucas said, beginning to climb up to where more slimes were.

"You don't-" I began, but Austin cut me off.

"Don't bother trying to stop him. Just let him do his thing, he never lets me help when we're fighting a bunch of weaklings."

"Oh... all right."

Austin and I waited outside, walking along the massive branches and picking off the few stumps we encountered, continuing to split the sticks we found. It wasn't long before Lucas emerged from the tree, drenched in green ooze but looking undeniably cheerful.

"Damn, that was fun!" He exclaimed, grinning as he wiped slime from his armor.

"You just enjoy picking on weak monsters." Austin mumbled. "Any luck?"

"Yeah, I got the liquid we needed, he needed, and a few of these as well!" Lucas extended his hand, showing us what appeared to be tiny slimes. They were flat, fairly thin, and slightly larger than a thumbnail.

I reached out and took one, examining it more closely. I couldn't tell what it was made of, but it was hard and probably next to impossible to break, despite its size. "What are these things?" I asked, flipping it over. It had the same design on both sides.

"Isn't it obvious? They're Omok pieces. Slime ones are kinda hard to find." Austin said, taking one from Lucas as well.

"Omok pieces...?" I repeated, wondering if I had heard him correctly. "Never heard of them."

"They're for a game. Get enough pieces, an Omok table and you can play it." He explained. "We've been collecting them for a while now."

"Interesting." I mumbled, still staring at the piece.

"Well, you can't have ours, sorry." Lucas said, taking the piece I was holding and dropping it into a small bag. "You can have these though, I already have a deck." He reached around into his back pocket and removed a handful of cards, giving them to me.

I stared at them for a moment. "For another game, I take it?"

"You don't know much, do ya?"

"Just worry about finding one hundred of those for now, I'm sure one of your friends can tell you what to do then. Right now, we have to be getting back to Ellinia. Come on, Lucas." Austin said simply, walking off. "See you later, Nemo!"

"Oh right, I forgot." Lucas tossed me a bag of squishy liquid, said goodbye and ran after his brother, who had somehow gotten halfway up the tree already.

"I wonder what the rush is?" I wondered for a moment. Then remembered I should be in one too, Leon and Kiro could be waiting for me back in Henesys already.

I hurried back to Henesys, expecting Leon and Kiro to be standing at the edge of town waiting and Leon making some comment about me being slower than a snail. I came to a stop at the beginning of the road leading toward the dungeon, where we were supposed to meet, but nobody was there. I sighed, dropping heavily onto the nearest bench and turning my gaze skyward. They would probably show up soon, so I decided to kill time staring at clouds like I used to do back on Maple. Of course whenever I did, Alanis interrupted my thoughts, telling me to stop daydreaming about Victoria and just go there.

My mind began to wander back to Maple Island again, but it didn't get far. Like Alanis interrupting my Victoria fantasies, some random idiot seemed to be there to destroy my Maple ones. "Hey! Archer!" The peon in question yelled, dashing from the direction of the dungeon.

I glanced up lazily, a thief with long, dark red hair was standing by the bench and staring at me. "You'll have to be more specific, this is Henesys. Better known as archer central. Did you mean me?" I asked with a note of spite in my voice, I never got a chance to think anymore, and it was getting irritating.

"Yes, you! You're the only person around here!" The thief snapped, gesturing to the practically deserted area around us. "Your name was... Nemo, right? Get off your butt! There's big trouble and even a newbie like you is more use than nobody!" He shouted, clearly panicked.

"You ask someone for help and insult them at the same time. You must have a ton of friends." I muttered sarcastically. "How do you know my name, anyway?"

"It's me! Justin! I gave you that stupid bandana wrapped around your thick head!"

I unconsciously reached up and touched the bandana, finally remembering. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that. What's wrong, more money issues?"

"No! Well... yeah, but that's not what this is about! Just shut up and move!" Justin shouted, grabbing the collar of my shirt and yanking me off the bench. He proceeded to pull me along behind him down the road to the dungeon, ignoring my protests.

I was about ready to punch him in the back of the head, when a scream echoed from up ahead. I rushed by Justin, almost knocking him over as I went, skidding to a halt atop a ledge that overlooked a ruin that was home to a mass of golems. One seemed to have been out on a walk away from home, the ground trembling lightly with each step the massive rock took. It took me a moment to realize where it was going. Someone was pressed up against the base of the cliff I was standing on, a second person some distance behind the golem, facedown on the ground and unmoving.

Quick footsteps came up behind me as I wondered what to do. "Damn, looks like he wasn't as strong as he thought." Justin said, noticing the person on the ground.

I didn't really hear him, my mind frantically attempting to figure out what to do. It would take too long to find a path or climb down, so there was really only one other option. "I'll get the golem's attention, you help them." I said quickly, leaping off the cliff at the golem before he could agree.

"Are you insane?!" Justin cried as I fell toward the golem, gripping my bow tightly.

"Hey, gravel brain!" I shouted, landing on the golem's head and jumping off. I rolled as I hit the ground, stopping on one knee and spinning around, firing a couple arrows at its back. The arrows broke against the golem's stone body. It didn't stop, either not noticing or not caring about my attack. "Don't ignore me... you stupid, flower-headed freak of nature!" I yelled, unsure if verbal insults would even register... it sure didn't appear to have anything that resembled ears.

Amazingly, it came to a stop, then slowly turned to face me. The moment it wasn't looking, Justin dropped down from the cliff top and led the person that had been hiding in the small fissure along the base of the cliff back toward Henesys.

"An insult besting an arrow... never thought I'd see the day. I guess you do have ears, though you probably have as much brains as a scarecrow." I taunted, not really sure about what I was saying. Why would a scarecrow need a brain in the first place? Talk about stupid. The golem didn't seem to care though, it kept lumbering slowly toward me.

"You know, I've always wondered something. What if people are wrong about your sort?" I said to the golem, doubting trying to reason with it would do anything, but just wanting to keep its attention away from the person still on the ground. "What if you're not really a giant mound of ill-tempered rock? What if you're actually..." I nocked an arrow and took aim at the golem's head. "One little flower controlling a rock that's going on a rampage because all your friends got picked by careless passersby." I fired at the golem, severing the stem of the flower that had been growing on its head.

The flower landed gently on the ground in front of it, and the golem stopped dead. It began to lean forward, and I got ready to move, thinking it was about to fall over. I was wrong, it stopped leaning once it had a clear view of the flower on the ground. "So much for that theory." I sighed. "Sure was a stupid looking thing anyway. How threatening can something with a flower perched on its head look anyway? Pathetic."

The golem looked up so it's lone, glowing yellow eye was staring into my own bespectacled, green ones. The yellow rapidly changed to a blood red, making me take a step back in surprise. It moved forward two long strides and slammed its right fist into the ground with more speed than I've ever seen a golem have. I was barely able to avoid it, rolling across the ground from my dive out of the way. "Note to self, _never _make fun of the little flower on a golem's head." I muttered, dashing out of the way as it took another swing at me.

I looked around frantically for Justin, wondering why he hadn't come back for the other person yet. The golem stomped toward me once again, but a loud voice made both it and me look up. "Sinister demon of earth! I shall not stand idly by while you assail the innocent!"

The silhouette of a caped person appeared atop one of the nearby cliffs, and I groaned. "Not again."

The voice boomed across the valley again. "I am the defender of Victoria Island, the axe of justice... the Dark Dragon!" He cried, raising his axe in the air and leaping at the golem.

It happened in a flash... as Dark descended on the golem, there was a flash of stone as it swung its massive arm and knocked Dark out of the air, sending him crashing into the wall of the cliff he had just jumped from. I sighed as he landed on the ground in a heap. "Idiot."

The golem turned its attention back to me, and I got ready to dodge the next attack. A moment later there was crash as it toppled onto the ground and shattered. I stared at it blankly, wondering if Dark had actually done that. A cold voice came from the other side of the golem's remains, followed by a face to match. "Damn it. Don't you dare tell me I saved your life again... it'd make getting rid of you that much harder."

"Leon! Talk about good timing. I wasn't really the one in trouble though, I was just a decoy." I dashed over to the man on the ground, ignoring Dark. "We have to hurry and help-" I froze after turning him over to see if he was still alive. "Clint?!"

"You know him?" Leon asked, walking up behind me.

"Yeah, he was my neighbor back on Maple Island. He's still alive... but... does that mean the person that left with Justin was Alanis?" I wondered aloud.

"It's no use asking me, I wasn't here. Right now we should take him and that other moron into town for healing, since Kiro isn't here. I'll carry this guy back, you can help the masked idiot." He said, bending over to pick up Clint.

I glanced over to where Dark had landed, then around the area. "There's a problem with that plan... he's gone."

"Great, you can carry my sword then. It'll be easier to carry this guy with both hands."

"You don't even care that there's a wounded person wandering alone somewhere?!"

"Considering the last time I saved someone I ended up with a stalker, no. Now let's go." Leon grumbled, thrusting his sword into the ground and lifting Clint. He started walking toward Henesys without another word.

"Heartless..." I muttered, following him. I grabbed the hilt of his sword as I passed, and was promptly jerked backwards when I attempted to pull it along.

"Don't lag behind!" Leon called back, not bothering to slow down.

"I don't intend to!" I yelled, before turning to face his sword. I gripped it tightly with both hands and pulled up. It slowly began to move, then fell onto the ground, taking me with it. "Damn... how does he carry this thing on his shoulder without breaking his arm?" I groaned.

After a long while of struggling with Leon's oversized sword, I finally made it back to Henesys. Of course, by then I had lost sight of Leon and a lot of people were staring at me. It was like they had never seen an archer trying to carry a giant scimitar through town before. Three of them came over and started complaining that I was tearing up the ground by dragging the blade along. I offered to let them try and carry it, and they were worse off than me. Only one persisted to annoy me after that, but I got him to leave me alone after dropping the sword on his foot.

I was halfway through town when I was tackled from behind. My hands slipped, I toppled over and was almost squished between the ground and the person that jumped me. "So much for the pain in my arms... now everything hurts." I moaned.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I was running to catch up with you and tripped... are you okay?" The person on my back said, quickly getting up.

"No major harm done..." I said, slowly getting to my feet and wiping some of the dirt off my clothes. "Besides, if someone were to... tackle me, I'd prefer it was you." _Or maybe Mina. _I added in my head.

"Huh?"

"Nevermind. What kept you, Kiro? I expected you to get here a lot sooner."

"I would have been here sooner... but I met Mina in Kerning. We talked for a little while and asked for a favor before I left her." Kiro explained.

"What sort of favor?" I inquired, trying in vain to lift Leon's sword again.

"She wanted you, me and Leon to visit her when we finished this job. Doesn't that sound fun?" She said brightly.

"You have _got _to be kidding me." An irritated voice interrupted. Leon had walked up without our noticing.

"Aww... don't be like that. If you tried, I'm sure you and Mina could become great friends!"

"Not bloody likely." Leon muttered, yanking his sword away from me and lifting it onto his shoulder with no apparent effort.

"You can't be human." I mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. Is Clint okay?"

"He's fine, just a minor head wound."

"I wouldn't call that fine, but Dad's pretty tough!" Alanis said, running up beside Leon.

"Not you again..." Leon sighed.

"I wanted to say thanks to Nemo for helping me and my Dad. So... thanks!"

"No problem... I did have help though. What happened to Justin, anyway?"

"The thief? Once we got to Henesys, he ran off. A couple of big guys were chasing him out of town last I saw. Even after what little I've seen of Victoria, I can't help thinking the whole place is downright weird."

"Oh, are you not from Victoria?" Kiro asked, looking very interested for some reason.

"Nope, I'm from Maple Island like Nemo. Who are you, anyway? Nemo's girlfriend?" Alanis joked.

I began to object, but Kiro replied first. "Yep!"

"What?!" Alanis and I exclaimed. Leon didn't speak, but he looked as surprised about her answer as I felt.

"Well, we are friends... aren't we?" She asked, looking slightly hurt by my reaction.

"Yeah, you're my friend, not my _girl_friend!" I said quickly.

"But... I am a girl, and your friend, so isn't girlfriend the right term?" She asked, now looking very confused. "It seems like it should be."

"That's not... how it works." I mumbled, wondering if she was just joking around or really this dense.

"Oh... but that doesn't really make sense..."

"Just trust me on this, Kiro.

"All right... I don't see what the difference is though."

"Ask Mina when we see her next."

"Okay."

"Can we go now? We need to finish the job." Leon grumbled, clearly getting impatient.

"I wanted to check on Clint." I said.

"We can do that after we deliver this!" He said stubbornly.

"Don't forget we have to visit Mina!" Kiro said brightly.

"Don't remind me."

Reunited, we set off again. It seemed odd that Kiro didn't know the difference between friend and girlfriend, especially considering she was almost the same age as me. I figured she was just kidding around, even if she didn't seem to be. My mind was more curious about why Mina wanted to see us, since she and Leon were at each others throats half the time they were together. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

"Hey, Nemo? Since I'm not considered your girlfriend, does that mean Leon isn't considered your boyfriend either?"

"Don't be stupid! I don't even consider him a friend. If anything, he's a stalker."

"Nemo, a stalker? I guess those rumors going around about him in Amherst were true."

"Rumors? What... hey! Alanis! Get back here and tell me what those jerks were saying about me this time!"


	6. Line in the Sand

"Those things just creep the hell out of me ever since that time in Sleepy Dungeon." I commented, looking at the corpses of the curse eyes that were covered in arrows, shuriken and slices where Kiro's magic claw spell had torn away at them.

"What was a weakling like you doing in a place like that?" Mina asked, counting how much ammo she had left.

"Exploring. It's my favorite hobby." I muttered, resenting being called a weakling. Sure I wasn't the strongest one in the group, but I wasn't the weakest either. I glanced at Kiro, who was wiping some of the dirt off her robe. Now that I thought about it, her magic was doing a lot more damage than my arrows seemed to be. Maybe I was the weakest...

"You should try exploring less dangerous places to start, otherwise you're just asking for trouble." Mina said, walking over to the portal Leon had passed through before the battle began, saying we three were more than a match for a few curse eyes.

"The less-dangerous places are too boring. Besides, visiting dangerous places is how I got this far! In Sleepy Dungeon I first met Kiro."

"Yeah." Kiro said, nodding her head and smiling. "The poor guy would have been crushed by a golem if I hadn't shown up to save him."

"Yeah, yeah... I still owe you one for that." I laughed.

"You actually got that far?" Mina wondered, looking surprised and even a little impressed. Or maybe I was imagining it.

"Got all the way to the bottom, yep. It was great. Anti-climactic, but great. And before that, I met Leon since I got stuck in a similar situation."

She grinned, shaking her head and walking into the portal. "Sounds like your risks usually pay off. A shame you became an archer instead of a thief, you would have been great if your luck's as good as it sounds."

"Yeah, well... it sounds better when I leave out how many times I was almost killed." I said as she vanished, before following her through.

Leon was standing by the next portal, tapping his foot impatiently. A few dead snakes were strewn about the ground, or at least bits of them. He must have gotten chop-happy while the rest of us fought with the curse eyes. "It took you long enough." He said crossly, shifting the scimitar on his shoulder slightly.

"It would have been quicker if you had helped." I grumbled, hearing Kiro come through the portal behind me. "Now that we're all here, mind telling us what's next, Mina?"

"It's not pretty." Leon spoke up before Mina could. "It's no wonder that four people have to go on a job like this."

"You know, I was half expecting you to tell us you had already killed the thing." Mina said as she passed him on her way to the next portal.

"As much as I would have liked to, I doubt I could handle something like that alone. Even I have limits." Leon said coldly, glaring at the back of Mina's head.

"Is that right?" She replied, glancing back at him with a sly grin on her face. "I'll keep that in mind." She vanished in a flash as she passed through the portal. Leon mumbled something rude before following after her.

"The way they act, I can't help wondering which one will kill the other first." I sighed, shaking my head and looking over at Kiro, who was wearing her usual smile.

"I don't know, maybe they like each other. Someone I knew told me that... how'd he put it?" She thought for a moment, obviously trying to concentrate. I wondered if it was much of a strain for her. I may have enjoyed her bright personality, but it didn't seem like that brightness extended to her intellect. Odd for a mage, really. I always thought they had to be smarter.

"That... 'friction between two people can be a sign of affection'. Meaning Leon and Mina might really be the best of friends, even if it doesn't look like it! And if they didn't like each other even a little, I don't think we'd be here right now." She said at last.

I felt my jaw drop slightly, but quickly turned away hoping she wouldn't notice my surprise. So much for her not being smart, now I felt stupid. _Weak and stupid... now there's a great morale booster right before a big fight. _I thought sarcastically. "I guess you have a point." I said, heading toward the portal. "Still, I doubt you'll find them complimenting each other anytime soon."

"Give it a little time and who knows what could happen!" She said brightly.

"The eternal optimist." I muttered, stepping through the portal.

I heard the sound of combat the moment I reappeared, it was coming from below the area where I was standing. I dashed over to the edge, cursing both of them for running ahead without waiting. Leon was facing off with a slime directly below, Mina supporting him from the side with her shuriken. I wondered why both of them looked so intense fighting a single slime, it's not like they were a challenge. Taking a second glance, I noticed the slime in question was about ten times as big as the normal ones.

"Hey! Stop staring like an idiot and help!" Mina yelled suddenly.

"Ah... right." I muttered, nocking an arrow and taking aim at the giant slime. It had begun pushing Leon back, putting me in a bad position. I still wasn't that accurate, and there was a good chance if I missed I could hit Leon. I decided to take the safer method of attack, putting away my bow and reaching for the new weapon I bought before we left Henesys that hadn't seen much action yet. Unlatching it where it was hooked to my belt, I got a tight grip and raised it above my head as I leapt off the cliff at the slime.

My mallet connected with the top of the slime, pushed into it for a foot or better without breaking the outer layer, and pushed back out with the force of a giant slingshot. I lost my grip on my mallet as I was thrown backward, and landed hard on my back a good twenty feet away from the slime. The ringing in my ears muffled whatever Leon was yelling, but I doubted I'd want to hear it anyway. There was a heavy thud to my right, and I looked over to see my mallet embedded in the ground an inch from my nose.

I felt ill, but whether it was from the impact or almost having my head crushed is anyone's guess. It took a moment for Kiro's voice to register in my head. "Nemo, are you okay?!"

I looked blankly from her, to the mallet and back again, breathing slowly. "My head doesn't look like a pancake, so... yeah." I muttered, slowly standing up and reaching for my bow.

"All right, we're ready for action!" Kiro announced to Leon and Mina, who were still facing off with the giant slime.

"Don't bother." Leon said, thrusting his scimitar straight through the slime. "It's already over." He brought his sword up, slicing the slime almost in half. He backed away, green ooze dripping from his scimitar's blade.

The slime stopped moving for a moment, then began to tremble. The trembling slowly became stronger, and the slime began to bubble, welts forming all over its outer layer until it suddenly exploded into countless smaller slimes. Leon was taken off-guard and tackled to the ground by at least half a dozen of the things, and the rest made a beeline for either Mina, Kiro, or myself. None of us had enough time to react before they were on top of us.

---

The noisy, crowded streets of Kerning were particularly louder today, even though they were much emptier. The screaming as people fled, yelling something about mutant slimes, seemed to be prominent everywhere we passed.

"I've never been so embarrassed in my life." Mina mumbled, staring at the ground. She, like the rest of us, was covered head to toe in green slime.

"Think of it this way, looking like that, there's no way anyone can recognize you." I pointed out, still trying to wipe off the goo that was stuck to my glasses.

"That's one small relief." She mumbled.

"Hey, Mina!" A familiar, red-headed thief called out as he ran up to us. "What in the world happened to you? It looks like there was a slaughter."

"So much for that theory." Mina muttered, shooting me a cold look before turning to the thief. "There was a slaughter, thanks to the scimitar-wielding lunatic." She gestured to Leon.

"Yeah, those team quests are pretty intense, huh?" He laughed.

"Justin, I have a question." I spoke up.

"Huh?" He looked at me with a confused expression. "Do I know you?"

"Here's a hint." I removed my bandanna, and lashed it in his direction, splattering him with slime. "You gave me this."

"Oh yeah, the rookie archer! What's up?"

"What's- you idiot! Why did you just vanish after getting Alanis out of that hole and leave me to the mercy of a rock that needs an anger management class?!"

"Oh, that." Justin scratched his head, chuckling. "Sorry, I had to run. Mainly because I was being chased by some goons. I told the kid to find you other help though."

I was ready to yell at him some more when Leon interrupted. "I have a much more important question." He said, somehow keeping his regular tone and posture despite looking like a giant, green booger. "Where can we go to get cleaned up?"

"That is a good question, I have slime bits in some very unpleasant places..." I commented, shifting my clothes uncomfortably.

"We don't want to know, Nemo." Mina said firmly. "As for getting cleaned up... Kiro, you can come to my place and we can wash up there. Justin, would you take care of the two idiots?"

"Well... there's something I wanted to talk to you about... but I guess it can wait a bit." He replied, turning away. "All right, come on you two."

---

Mina and Justin led us to an old apartment building along the eastern edge of Kerning. It didn't look like the most pleasant place, or the sturdiest considering the cracked walls and broken windows, but I was ready to overlook appearances if the place had running water.

We parted ways with Mina and Kiro on the fifth floor, where Justin's apartment was located. They still had to go up another two floors. We passed by a very... attractive brunette walking in the other direction before we arrived at Justin's apartment. I heard him exchange a greeting with her when they passed, but the slime that had been slowly seeping into my ears muffled what they said exactly. I made a mental note to ask him about her later. Maybe he'd introduce us.

As Justin dug through his pockets, Leon spoke up. "Who was that?" He asked, looking over his shoulder as the woman turned the corner toward the stairs.

"Huh? Oh, that's Rachel." He replied, pulling a key from his pocket.

I looked at Leon in surprise. "Don't tell me you're interested in her... you never seem interested in anyone!"

He glared at me. "Not interested in the way your perverted mind might be. I just find it odd that a warrior would take up residence in Kerning."

I blinked, trying to remember what she had been wearing to give the impression that she had been a warrior, but nothing clicked. I had been more focused on things other than her clothing at the time. Like what was underneath said clothing.

"It's the city, Leon." Justin shrugged. "I know there're a couple of archers and mages living in this building somewhere too."

"Is that right?" He muttered, clearly drifting off into thought.

In spite of his wandering mind, Leon laid claim to the bathroom shortly after the apartment door was opened. I sighed, dropping my shoes onto an old newspaper Justin had quickly set out. It wasn't long before Leon emerged, wearing blue jeans and a white, sleeveless shirt. Quite a change from the black and gold robe he always wore.

His right shoulder was what really caught my attention though... it was bruised, badly. From the base of his neck to a short way down his arm looked like it had been battered on a regular basis. "Leon... what happened to-"

He quickly interrupted me. "It's fine. That's the consequence of wielding a sword like mine. I'm used to it, so forget it. It's just something else... I have to live with." His slightly harsh tone and expression wavered near the end. Though it quickly recovered as he glared at me. "And if you're wondering what other living problems I have, take a look in the mirror."

I sighed, heading into the bathroom. "Yeah, yeah... that's me. The problematic archer with issues." _Though not nearly as many as you. _I added silently.

It took longer than I expected to clean all the gunk off. Luckily my old clothes had been protected by the bag I kept them in, so they were slime-free. I slipped into my jean shorts and gray shirt, dropping my archer's outfit into the bin by the door where Leon had put his robe. When I had finished, Justin grabbed the clothes bin and headed out, saying he would take them to the laundry room.

Trying to ignore the silent room, since Leon was being untalkative, I took a quick look through Justin's bookshelf. There wasn't much to be found on it. A couple guides to making mesos and a handful of other advice and self-help books... clearly he wasn't much of a reader.

I had just started flipping through one about using stealth to avoid monsters, when someone knocked on the door. I glanced at Leon, who was obviously off in his own little world, and put the book away before going to open the door. I was stunned by the sight that awaited in the hall.

"Nemo, look at this cute dress Mina let me borrow!" Kiro's voice barely registered as I gaped at the pair of them. Mina was standing just behind her, wearing a rather tight, white tank-top and jeans. Her black hair, now free of the bandanna that usually covered her head, was combed back and hanging straight to her shoulders but ruffled around the top. Kiro was hopping from one foot to another energetically, wearing a soft pink dress with a blue, circular design on the chest and her hair tied back into a ponytail.

"What do you think, Leon?" She asked, walking past me and into the apartment.

"Peachy." He answered dully.

"You can pick up your jaw now, Lucky." Mina said to me with a smirk as she brushed past. "So, Blondie. While Justin takes care of the cleaning, I'm challenging you right here and now."

I blinked, coming back to my senses and turning back to the room, letting the door swing shut. Mina was pointing something at Leon, but I couldn't see what.

"Are you serious?" He wondered, raising an eyebrow.

"Very."

He sighed. "Forget it."

"Afraid you'll lose?" She asked, grinning.

He glared at her. "You're on."

"That's the spirit, Leon!" Kiro cheered.

Mina sat down on the couch next to him, slamming what turned out to be a deck of cards on the coffee table in front of them. "Kiro, you deal them out."

"Right!"

Kiro and I sat on the floor across from them, watching as they battled it out, match card style. It was obvious from the start the Mina had the upper hand, and it was proven by the time Justin returned with our clean clothes. She was beating him twelve to nothing.

"You hustling these poor guys, Mina?" Justin asked, setting down the basket of clothes. "You know she's won almost every match card tournament they've had around here, right?"

"What?!" Leon exclaimed.

"Yep. Damn near unbeatable at that." He said, sitting down in the chair by the bookshelf.

"Unbelievable." Leon grumbled, getting up and dragging the basket into the bathroom, probably to change back into his robe.

"Well, he's no fun." Mina commented, watching as Kiro laid out the cards again. "Up for a match, Kiro?"

"No thanks." She replied, setting the last card down.

"How about you, Nemo?"

"Hmm..." I mulled it over. She had beaten Leon twelve times with almost no effort, which meant I might stand a chance. She couldn't keep winning forever, she had to lose sometime. That's when a stupid idea hit me. It was iffy, but nothing ventured, nothing gained... or probably lost, in this case. "How about we make a bet on it?"

"Are you an idiot? You've watched her play and you're willing to bet on a game?" Justin wondered, clearly shocked by my recklessness. Though not as much as me.

Mina chuckled. "All right, how much do you want to wager?"

"Well... not mesos. I don't have enough of those to risk on something like this." I said, scratching my head. "How about we go out if I win?"

Silence followed. For a moment, at least. It didn't take long for Kiro to speak up. "Go out... where? Like a walk through town?"

"No..." I sighed. "...I meant on a date."

"You know how pathetic that is, right?" Mina asked.

"Yeah, but honestly, if I had asked you out like I wanted to before now, there'd be zero chance of a yes." I muttered. "Am I right?"

Mina opened her mouth as if to say otherwise, but no sound came. She sighed, looking off to the side. "Okay, I can't argue with that. If I win, though... you..." she thought about it for a few moments. "...you have to do me a favor. I'm not going to say what though. Deal?"

"You're on." I said quickly, moving around to the other side of the table. "Ladies first."

The game was over surprisingly fast. Faster than any of the games she played with Leon, who had emerged from the bathroom just in time to see the last card flipped over. Mina's fingers were still resting on the last card as he asked what what everyone was so quiet about. Nobody answered, we were all staring at the cards.

I chuckled as what had happened sunk fully into my head, and it steadily grew into heavy laugh as I slumped back onto the couch, letting my head hang back and staring up at the ceiling as I exhaled with a final "Ha."

"Lucky streaks can end quite abruptly, can't they?" I commented, getting up and heading over to the bathroom. "Obviously the same can't be said of skill." I closed the door behind me, and heard Leon ask what the hell had happened again. I grinned, leaning against the inside of the door as Kiro began giving Leon the details.

_Three cards to pick from and I choose the wrong one, making me lose by one point... it's always the same. My luck always ends right before the critical moment._ I closed my eyes and sighed. _Still, losing by one pair on my first game is pretty good. I just hope Mina's favor doesn't involve public humiliation. I can do that well enough on my own._ I changed back into my still warm-from-the-dryer archer's outfit and headed back into the living room. I arrived just in time to be complimented... I think.

"Not even he's stupid enough to believe something like that!" Mina snapped, gesturing in my direction.

Justin was holding up a large sheet of paper, the front facing the others so I couldn't get a good look at it. "Come on, Mina! You know I'm in big trouble, this could be the perfect way out for me! I just need your help!"

"And why would I take a risk like that to help an idiot that would just find a way back into debt even if an obviously fake map DID lead him to treasure?" She countered, resting her hands on her hips.

"I've helped you out a lot, you owe me one! Besides, it's on Florina Beach! It's not like I'm asking you to go somewhere far off and horrible like El Nath!" He shot back, pointing to the map.

"That's true." I said, walking around to get a look at the map. "El Nath is a winter wasteland, a beach sounds like fun."

Leon looked over at me, raising an eyebrow. "You've been to El Nath?"

"Ah... I..." I trailed off for a moment, realizing what I had just said. "It's just... I read a lot back on Maple, you know? About all the far-off lands like that. I've seen lots of pictures of El Nath, and it didn't look at all pleasant." I quickly explained.

"Hm." Leon lightly grunted, turning back to the map. Looked like the bought it... good thing, too. I didn't feel like going through an explaination of my first, and only, trip ever to El Nath some years back. I learned why people don't mess with Jr. Yetis the hard way... and why it's even worse when their parents happen to be nearby. It's not pretty... I still have nightmares. I'm just glad Master Duncan was there to save my sorry butt.

"You've obviously never been to Florina Beach. Do you even know what's there?" Mina asked.

"Um..." I closed my eyes and tried to visualize the coastline back at Lith Harbor, it had to be something similar to that. "Lots of sand and water... palm trees... maybe a few... heheh..." I smirked, an image of Mina in a bikini suddenly flashing through my mind. "We must go!" I shouted enthusiastically opening my eyes and slapping my hands together.

Mina narrowed her eyes at me. "Hey Lucky, you're drooling."

"Er..." I quickly turned around, reaching up to wipe it away but felt nothing around my mouth. "Hey!"

"Perverted archer." Leon grumbled.

"A lot of slime must have seeped into your ears, your mind needs cleaning." Justin commented.

"No, he's just like that." Mina pointed out.

"Yeah, but that's what makes him who he is." Kiro spoke up. "You all figure this map thing out, I'm going to get changed." She said, her voice as bright as usual.

I didn't turn back, annoyed with all of them except Kiro, at least one person here didn't think my mind was in the gutter. As she passed by me on her way to the bathroom, she was still smiling, but something about her seemed off. Her face looked rather pale... and the way she walked seemed less... like her. I don't know how to explain it. Nobody else seemed to notice, the debate about Justin's map built up again shortly after the bathroom door closed behind Kiro.

---

As we dismounted the boat, Mina and Justin were still sparring verbally about the validity of the map. Leon was a few paces behind them, his eyes closed tightly in a look of frustration he usually reserved for my antics kept me from approaching him. He was always rather vicious when he got that shade of red. I glanced over my shoulder at Kiro, who was looking out over the horizon. She seemed distracted by something, but it seemed like I was the only one that noticed. She hadn't said much during the entire trip, which was odd in itself. Then again, nobody could get a word in over Mina and Justin's bickering if they wanted to.

"Look, we're here, so we have to go this way!" Justin spoke up, pointing to something on the map.

"No, you idiot. That's that, and this is here, so we need to go over there!" Mina countered, taking the map from him and gesturing to various symbols on it as she spoke.

"I have a better idea." Leon said shortly, snatching the map from Mina, turning it over and handing it back to her. "Try looking at it right side up before deciding on a direction."

Once the three of them had finally decided on a direction, we were off. The place was a lot more dangerous than I expected it to be. Rude monkeys that threw banana peels at us as we passed, though thankfully that's ALL they threw. Giant crabs scuttling along, threatening to crush anything in their way with equally giant claws. And to top it off, I couldn't hurt the bloody things. The monkeys were too fast to hit and the crab's armor was too tough to penetrate.

Leon and Mina were apparently the strongest of our mismatched little group, since they led the way and cleared out anything that cross our path. Justin said he wasn't fighting since _someone _had to hold the map and he volunteered himself. Even if I had nothing to do but hang back with Kiro when she wasn't using her healing magic. She still wasn't acting like herself. She kept looking around, a smile on her face as usual, but it seemed... different. I wasn't sure why.

Justin directed us to a cave that led to the other side of the island, saying the map directed us right through it. Stalagmites hanging from the opening gave me the impression of jagged teeth waiting to bite, and the odd noises echoing out of it did nothing for my confidence. Justin grinned stupidly at the cave, probably thinking about treasure, while nobody else said a thing. I took it upon myself to point out how crazy he was for following the map without question... in less than polite terms.

"I fail to see how that would help, Nemo." Justin replied crossly.

"I don't know how it would work, either." Kiro mumbled, scratching her head. "Justin wouldn't be able to read the map if it was there."

"Sure he would. Buying a crappy map from a random guy makes it pretty obvious he's got his head up there already." Mina pointed out.

Leon chuckled at that. "I can't believe I actually agree with you about something." He said with a glance at Mina.

"Come on guys, we've made it this far! Stopping now would be pointless!" Justin insisted.

"True, but if the map's fake going on would be equally pointless." I gestured to the cave. "Especially if going on gets us killed."

"The cave has a safe path, so there's nothing to worry about." Kiro said, walking off to the side of the cave's entrance and pushing her way through the leaves of an oversized bush. "This way is a little tight in places, but it comes out near where the big one does."

We were all silent for a few moments, looking in the direction of the bush. Mina broke the silence first. "Uh... Kiro?"

Kiro's head poked out of the leaves. "Yeah?"

"How did you know about that path?" Mina asked.

"I've used it before." She replied simply. "Now on to the treasure!" She disappeared back into the bush.

The mention of treasure must have jarred some thoughts back into Justin's head, since he hurried after her without hesitation.

Mina looked back at Leon and me. "She's been to Florina before?"

We both shrugged, and Mina shook her head turning to the hidden path and heading inside.

I hadn't thought about it before, but I really don't know all that much about what Leon and Kiro were doing before we met up. Then again, I hadn't been too vocal about my past either. Maybe that's how adventurers worked, not bothering to get to know each other very well in case one of them ended up getting killed on the job. Less to grieve over... what a sad thought.

I was brought back to my senses as Leon told me to hurry up, and I sprinted after him, almost running headlong into the rocks behind the bush since the fissure that acted as a path was only as high as my chest.

---

The path was dark, cramped and dangerous since Leon had to drag his sword behind him, the pointy end being aimed at me. I'm not sure how far it went before it finally opened up into a large, circular chamber with a natural column in the center. There was water along the left side of the room, and around that there were over a dozen scuttling troublemakers.

"So much for this route being safer." Leon complained, rushing at the Clangs and slamming his sword down on one of them.

Mina was already going after them, having emerged from the tunnel just before him. Even Justin was lending a hand this time, stabbing at one of them with his knife while evading its over-sized pincers and shouting something about gold. I wasn't really paying attention to him, my attention was on Kiro, who was drifting over to a larger fissure than the one we came out of, opposite of the water and crabs.

I walked over to ask what she was doing, but got distracted by a loud crack and crumble of rocks, followed by Mina's panicked shout. "What the hell are you thinking, Blondie?!"

I turned to see Leon, who had a Clang skewered on his sword and pressed against the column. Then I noticed the tip of his sword poking out of the other side of both. There was more clatter as a part of the column broke off, crumbling onto the floor. He looked up and swore, yanking his sword out.

That was the cue for the whole place to come crashing down. The column was the first to go, toppling with a crack and falling against the wall we had crawled out of, sealing our way back. I heard Justin yell something as the stalactites began to fall, but didn't bother to wait and hear a plan. I rushed toward Kiro, who was just taking in the unfolding chaos with a rather blank expression, grabbing her wrist and pulling her along into the tunnel she had been wandering over to.

I glanced over my shoulder as a rumbling filled the cavern. I thought I saw a figure through the falling rocks, dirt and dust running off in another direction before the entrance to the cavern collaped behind the two of us. Thinking about what happened to the others wasn't really an option at the moment though, since rocks were still falling from the ceiling of the tunnel.

I don't know if it was seconds, minutes or hours before I saw a light at the end of the tunnel, I was just hoping we hadn't been crushed by debris without realizing it and what was ahead wasn't the _other_ kind of light at the end of a tunnel. When we finally reached it, the only clouds I saw were in the sky still, so that was a relief. No sign of fire and brimstone either, a double relief.

I glanced back at Kiro, who was on her knees and trying to catch her breath. A few feet behind her the last few stones tumbled down what used to be the mouth of the cave, now it just looked like a pile of rocks against the cliffside. My thoughts drifted to Leon, Mina and Justin. The way back was sealed when the column went down, and they weren't with us... was there another way out of that chamber?

"I hope they took the right path." Kiro mumbled, looking at the fallen rocks. "They both lead out, but one's a lot shorter."

_So there was another escape route... good. _I thought, just now starting to realize how much my body was hurting from the run. Not to mention the spots of red on my glasses. I was trying to figure out what had happened, but my thoughts were getting blurry. As well as everything else.I barely felt my fingers slip from Kiro's wrist as I fell over, blacking out before I even hit the ground.

---

I awoke to a faint whistling and the smell of some kind of fruit. My body didn't hurt anymore, but I felt very disoriented. I slowly sat up and opened my eyes, feeling around for my glasses and wondering where I was. I found them on a small table nearby and slid them on... and was a bit stunned by the room I was in. Pink was prominent everywhere I looked, paired with white and purple in places. The curtains on the window, the rug, the bedsheets over me, everything. It was also a bit heavy on the dust. Someone wasn't much of a housekeeper, just looking at the building dirt made me itch.

_Wait a second..._ I blinked, looking down at the sheets for a moment before lifting them up. Something was off. To be precise, my clothes. All of them, underwear included, gone. I swore, quickly looking around the room to see if they were nearby. My old grey shirt and blue jean shorts were sitting on a chair near the only door out of the room, my bow and arrows leaning against the wall by it.

I stumbled out of the bed, grabbed my clothes and hurriedly got dressed. I was struggling with my shirt when I heard the door open, followed by Kiro's bright voice.

"Good morning, Nemo! Feeling better?"

I turned and stared at her for a few moments, before giving myself a mental slap in the face and forcing my still dazed mind to work properly. "Yeah. Thanks." I mumbled. "What... um..." I glanced down at my clothes, wondering what the best way to ask was. "What happened to my archer's outfit?"

"It got pretty torn up from the falling rocks. The rest of you did too, actually. I think a heavy one smacked you on the the head, since there was a big, bleeding lump up there. That's probably why you passed out, too." She said, tilting her head and closing her eyes as if trying to recall everything. "I dragged you back here and healed both of us up. I fixed and washed our clothes, too. Yours are still drying though, they're a lot thicker than my robe."

"Right..." I replied, still more than a little uncomfortable about waking up in the buff in... well, where ever here was.

"I got some fruit off the tree out back, if you're hungry. There were still some bottles of water in the pantry too." She turned to the door, and I wasn't sure what to think.

"Kiro, you can't just..." I glanced at the room again, looking for the right word. "...raid random houses. Even if they are abandoned."

"Don't be silly, we're not raiding a random house." She said, looking back at me with a grin. "We're raiding my house."

---

I leaned back in the dining room chair, munching on one of the pieces of fruit Kiro had brought in. I don't know what it was called, but it was sweet, tropical and tasty. Of course, I was so hungry I wouldn't have cared if it was sour, brown and of questionable edibility. Nice that it wasn't though. I looked out the window at the trees, then at the quaint interior. It was made for one, maybe two people... it was just like my home. At least the one on Maple Island. I doubt the other could qualify as a home anyway.

_Damn it... this place is getting me thinking about the past again. _I thought, sighing and standing up. I walked into the next room, which contained a couch, chair, coffee table and three oversized bookshelves. I suppose that was the best entertainment one could hope for so out in the middle of nowhere. I began skimming through the titles. Most of them were fiction or biographies of adventurers or Guildmasters. I'd actually read most of them on Maple. When I first moved there and didn't know anyone, it was one of my favorite ways to spend time apart from wandering and knifing snails.

I was looking through the top shelf when I noticed the nameplate mounted above it. I raised an eyebrow at it. "Ben's Books?" I wondered aloud, moving to the next bookshelf. The second had Kiro's name over it. I started looking though them, and wondered if she had actually read everything on her shelf. Books on machines, medicine, magic, biology and various other difficult subjects. Was this really what she used to read?

"Not a bad collection, is it?" Kiro said, making me jump since I didn't hear her come in. She didn't seem to notice my surprise though. "Dad had to special order a lot of them, they need to build a library on Florina, not just those... what did Dad call them? Tourist traps?"

I stared at her for a moment. "Your Father... Ben?" I asked, gesturing to the nameplate.

"Yeah." She walked over to the bookshelf and looked though them. "He always did love adventure novels. He was always telling me about his own trips to places like Sleepywood, Ossyria and Ludibrum. That was all before I came around though, before he retired here."

"Is that right?" I mumbled, glancing at the books. _An adventurer for a Dad... bet that was nice._

"He always made it sound like fun. I always liked reading about how things worked though." She looked at her bookshelf. "Actually, Dad was always breaking stuff. He was a bit of a klutz." She said with a laugh. "I thought I'd learn how to fix a few things, since he didn't know the first thing about mending anything but people. I think I ended up going a little overboard though, even if Dad insisted I had a talent for fixing stuff."

"Well, you do." I said, walking over to the couch and sitting down. Dust went everywhere, and I tried my best not to sneeze or cough. "From what you said before, I was pretty busted up a while ago, but I feel fine thanks to your healing magic."

She smiled at me. "It's a good thing I took after Dad and became a cleric then."

"Yeah." I looked down at the dusty couch, just realizing something. If she used to live here with her Father, and the place was this state after her leaving, then-

"What happened to him?" I asked without thinking. I didn't even realize how rude it might have been taken by some people.

Luckily Kiro wasn't one of them, she just shrugged. "The same thing that happens to everyone else when they get too old."

"Right..." I muttered, sorry I asked. My thoughts drifted to Master Duncan, an older mage that taught me a lot when I was a kid. He was half the reason I was inspired to become an adventurer and supported my efforts to become one. Unlike certain _other _people. He was pretty old when I left my first home, and that was about ten years ago. I wondered if age might have gotten him too... but brushed the thought aside. It was too depressing. Not to mention the old coot was so stubborn and powerful it'd probably take a horde of balrogs to do him in.

Kiro's voice quickly brought my thoughts back to the present. "When I left here, I promised both myself and Dad that I wouldn't come back until I became a cleric and found who gave me this... but halfway there is better than coming back after giving up." She said, looking at something in her hand that glimmered silver.

"Who gave you what?" I wondered, getting up to see what she was holding.

"This bracelet with my name on it." She offered me the piece of jewelery and I took it for a closer look.

The name Kiro was etched into a length of silver, both ends attached to a short chain. There was a crack between the K and i, and at each tip there was a circle design with lines coming out of it in almost random directions. I felt my muscles tense at the sight of it. "You don't know who gave you this?" I asked rather quickly.

She shook her head. "Nope. Dad found it with me."

My fingers twitched. "Found?"

"Oh right, most people go by biology when they talk about parents." She said with a laugh. "Sorry, I forgot to mention that. Dad found me washed up on the beach when I was three or so. I don't really remember it, but he said there were traces of a ship that had been attacked washed up too. He looked into it, but couldn't find out anything."

_I'm sure he couldn't..._ I thought, gritting my teeth and returning her bracelet. "You think your family gave you this, then?"

"No, I think my parents did." She said, kneeling down and clasping it around her ankle before tucking it into her sock. No wonder I never noticed it before now.

I blinked at her. "But Ben-"

"Was my Dad." She said simply, looking up and smiling. "One thing I learned after I left here was that people put too much on biology. One guy even told me 'You can't choose your family.' I didn't really know what he meant. I still don't, actually. Dad, Ben, was family, and he chose me. I chose you and Leon in a way, and now you guys are like family too.

I couldn't help smiling at the thought. Family, huh? "Like Clint and Alanis were... are, to me as well."

"Exactly." Kiro said brightly, standing up and streching. "Family's what you make it."

"I'd like to see Leon's reaction to... oh crap!" I shouted, wondering how I could have been so oblivious to have forgotten. "Leon and the others, what happened to them?!"

"I saw the make it down the other tunnel, they should be fine." Kiro said, clearly wondering why I was panicking. "The tunnel they took was a lot more stable, reinforced and everything. It wouldn't have collapsed like the one we were in."

"That's a relief, but we have to get moving!" I said, rushing to the door.

She just blinked. "What's the hurry?"

"You might be sure they're fine, but there's a chance they're not..." I said quickly. "...and even if they weren't hurt, they have no way of knowing what happened to us!"

She closed her eyes, apparently thinking about it. "Oh yeah... I hadn't thought of that." She dashed off into the dining room. "I'll get your outfit, it should be dry now. Don't forget your bow, either!"

"Eh?" I looked at my grey shirt, forgetting I wasn't exactly armed for a fight. I swore, running to get changed.

---

I was muttering curses during the whole run from Kiro's house back to the harbor we arrived at. Apparently the only way to continue to the side of the island we had been going to before the chaos was through a cavern that was both a breeding ground for Clangs and underwater during high tide. Since that was obviously not an option, we had to take the long way back and still avoid the stupid crabs.

Kiro said the harbor was just around the corner, and I broke into the best sprint I could manage on the sand. I rounded the corner of the short cliff we were passing, and slammed headlong into someone doing the same thing in the opposite direction. We both went rolling through the sand for a few feet before coming to a stop, the other runner coming to a rest on top of me.

I groaned, ready to chew out whoever was using me for a cushion until I saw their face. "Mina...? You're okay!" I laughed, quickly forgetting my minor aches from the tumble and grabbing her in a hug before she could get up.

I expected her to demand I let her go, but she just breathed a sigh of relief. "Nemo? Thank goodness... you and Kiro had us worried sick."

"Same here. I must say, I like the greeting. I don't suppose this could become a regular thing?" I asked, grinning at her.

"Huh?" She looked at me for a moment, before realizing she was pretty much sitting on my lap. She rolled her eyes, giving me a shove before standing up. "Yeah, you're fine." She said, going over to see Kiro.

I got back on my feet and hurried over to the other two. "Leon, you didn't ditch me! I knew you cared!"

He just shook his head, his expression reserved. "Who said I was worried about you?"

"Oh please." Justin said, crossing his arms. "You were probably the most frantic after the cave-in."

"Leon?" I stared at him, unable to imagine, let alone believe it. "Frantic?"

"He's out of his mind." Leon said coldly, shooting a glare at Justin. "The map proved that."

"Map...? You actually took the time to look for treasure before coming after us?!" I snapped at both of them.

"No, the tunnel just happened to lead us right to where the map pointed, The Pirate's Den." Leon said, unable to keep the irritation from his voice.

"Let me guess, the treasure was already gone?"

"That would suggest there was treasure to find in the first place." Mina said, walking over with Kiro.

"What do you mean?" Kiro inquired, looking from Mina to Justin.

"The thing is..." Justin trailed off, scratching his head.

"The Pirate's Den is actually a vacation resort." Leon explained. "Built very recently and mostly unknown since only rich people can afford it."

"You have _got_ to be kidding." I said, resisting the urge to take a swing at Justin with my mallet. "We were almost killed trying to find a resort?!"

"I said I was sorry." Justin muttered.

"Say it all you want, I doubt any of us will take an apology for something like that anytime soon. I'm going home." Mina said, pushing past him and making her way toward the harbor. I followed after her with Leon, leaving Justin to bring up the rear with Kiro.

---

And so, our escapade on Florina came to a close. Justin's map was a fake, though I can't say I'm too surprised. Of course, it wasn't totally pointless, I did learn a bit about my traveling companions. Justin's about as daft as they come, as well-intentioned as he might be. Mina's surprisingly light and huggable, though she'd probably break my arms if I tried _that _again. Leon actually does give a damn about me and Kiro, though I'd be willing to wager he likes her more. Who wouldn't? Kiro... I learned more about her than I might care to know. I still haven't really sorted through my thoughts on the whole thing.

"I don't know why everyone else is so upset, I thought this was an exciting trip!"

"I'm glad one of you enjoyed it, Kiro."

"Mina, if I snap and try to squish him with my mallet, you might have to stop me."

"Forget the mallet, I say we knock him overboard on the way back to Lith."

"Agreed."


	7. Mystic Rivalry

I groaned, trudging through Henesys and feeling like my back was about to break. I made a mental note to thank Mina again for suggesting I avoid the warrior career path, there was no way I would've been strong enough for it. I glanced over my shoulder at the large cart that was practically overflowing with firewood I was pulling along and sighed. The things we do for mesos.

I looked to my right at Leon, who was pulling a second, much larger cart of firewood behind him and barely even sweating. To my left, Kiro was pulling the smallest of the three carts we borrowed for the job that was piled high with sticks, she didn't seem to be having much more difficulty than Leon. Once again, I found myself being reminded I was the weakest of our motley trio.

"This sucks." I complained in Leon's direction.

"It's work. Deal with it." He replied, not even looking at me.

"I would just like to say that Nella is, has been, and always will be a soulless, slave-driving, sadistic sociopath complete with fangs."

"For the hundredth time."

"Yes."

"And also for the hundredth time, those aren't fangs, Nemo. They're normal canines, her bottom ones are just more... pronounced." He insisted.

"I think they make her look unique!" Kiro said brightly.

"Yeah, like the spawn of a human and balrog." I muttered, beginning to lose feeling in my arms. Not good, but it beat the pain at least.

Leon sighed. "Give it a rest, would you? We got the wood, we can rest while it's being processed. Once we take it back to the building site and get our payment we can probably take a week to relax."

"Sounds like a good idea to me."

"Good, then shut up and pick up the pace. The sooner we get this to Vicious, the sooner we can rest."

xxx

We arrived at Vicious' woodworking stall not long after that, thankfully. I was about ready to collapse when Leon came to a stop. Everything was getting blurry. Then I realized my glasses had slipped off the end of my nose because of all the sweat. I pushed them back up as Leon swore and turned to me.

"Damn it, Nemo. You know this guy, right?" He asked, his tone irritated. I wondered what he was getting angry at me about now. For some reason he'd been getting mad at me a lot easier lately. "I thought you said he was almost always at his shop."

"He is." I said tiredly, letting the cart's bar in front of me being the only thing keeping me from landing face-first in the dirt. "Vicious is committed to his craft, so much at times he might need to be committed. Much like Nella."

He glared at me at the mention of Nella's name. "Don't start on her again. Just tell me where the hell Vicious could be if he's as reliable as you say he is."

I looked at Vicious' stall, which honestly looked a little odd without him behind it. I looked up, the sun was almost directly overhead, so it must have been around noon. "Maybe he went to lunch or something." I shrugged.

"Of all the times..." Leon began, but Kiro interrupted him.

"Everybody's got to eat, Leon. You can't get mad at someone for that, can you?" She asked with a smile.

He made a groaning noise and sighed, looking off in the other direction. "No, I suppose not. I'm getting hungry too, anyway."

"Let's hit a restaurant, then." I suggested, hoping I could stay upright for the walk to it.

"I have a better idea." Leon said. "You stay here and watch the carts, Kiro and I will bring you something in a bit."

"Wha? Why me?" I demanded as best I could, given how much I wanted to just pass out.

"Coming to Vicious for processing was your idea, and someone has to make sure the wood isn't stolen." He explained, beginning to walk off. "We'll be back in a while. Come on, Kiro."

"Oh, alright. See you in a bit, Nemo!" Kiro said, hurrying to catch up with him.

I watched them leave, wanting to shout more than a few rude things at the both of them, but felt too tired to try. I just sat down on the ground with a sigh, recalling something Kiro had told me back on Florina. _Some family this is. I must be the youngest brother that they all pick on._

xxx

I must have fallen asleep sitting there, or passed out from exhaustion, since the next thing I knew I was being shaken awake.

"Hey, Nemo! You still breathing?"

I groaned, weakly swinging at them to leave me alone before trying to sit up. "Lunchtime already, Leon?" I mumbled, rubbing my eyes.

"Actually it's sometime past that, and my name's not Leon."

I looked up at him, straightening my glasses. Blonde hair aside, he was right... he wasn't Leon. Guess he'd know that best though. "Oh. Hey Vicious, how's business?"

He sighed, shaking his head at me. "Apparently booming. You expecting me to make arrows out of this lot?" He asked, looking behind me at the three carts of wood. "Because if you are, I'd have to ask if you were preparing an army or just a really, really bad shot."

I gave a half-hearted laugh, grabbing the closest cart's handlebar and pulling myself up. "Nah, I just need it processed into wood. Getting started soon might be a good idea, too. You remember the warrior I told you about? He's on the warpath about getting this done."

"I see..." Vicious muttered, glancing at his stall. "...there's a little problem though. I've closed up shop for a while until I can resolve it."

"What?" Leon asked, making both of us jump. He'd returned and gotten behind Vicious without our noticing. How I could have missed his giant sword was a mystery to me. "How long will fixing your 'little problem' take?"

"Er..." He took a couple quick steps away from Leon. "I don't know. I've been looking for a while, but..."

"You lose your tools or something?" I wondered.

Vicious leaned against one of the carts, looking at the ground. "I wish I had only lost my tools. I have two backup sets of them, so that wouldn't be a problem. I can't replace what I did lose."

"Which was?" Leon asked, glaring at him.

"My niece."

Leon's expression went from dangerous to surprised, before quickly turning more neutral than anything. "When you say you lost her, you mean she's just missing, correct?"

He nodded. "I can't find her anywhere in Henesys. I was supposed to be taking care of her while my Brother was in the hospital, but I'm not exactly good with kids. She kept wandering off. I didn't think it was too big of a deal since she only went to play with the local kids and didn't leave town, but I haven't been able to find her for quite a while."

"What's her name? And how long is quite a while?" Kiro inquired, walking over to him and leaning down to get a look at his face. "Like a few hours?"

"Her name's Alanis, and I haven't seen her in... well..." Vicious kept his focus on the ground and bit his lip. "...a couple days."

Kiro's eyes widened and Leon's sword slid from his grip, landing tip-first into the ground with a thunk. Then they both looked at me. I barely noticed, suddenly feeling very awake and like someone had just punched me in the stomach.

"Alanis has been missing... for two days?" I asked slowly. "Does Clint know?"

"Are you kidding, he'd kill me! He warned me she-" He stopped suddenly, looking up at me. "Wait... you know Clint?

"You're damn right he would." I snapped, ignoring the question. "Right after I beat you up and Artemis tortured you for a week."

Vicious flinched at the name Artemis. I would too. Alanis may have been one of the friendliest people around, but her Mother scared the hell out of me. And everyone else that knew her, by the look of it.

"Look, Clint's still recovering from that golem attack and I didn't want him to worry." Vicious explained.

"Yeah, right." I glared at him. "You didn't tell him because you didn't want to risk Artemis getting involved. Alanis told me her Mom's not that fond of her Uncle, and something like this won't get you on her good side. If she has one."

"Are you going to keep this idiocy up or start looking for her?" Leon interrupted. "Vicious, we'll go look for the kid, you stay here and get to work on the wood."

"But..." Vicious began, quickly deciding against an argument after seeing the stern expression Leon was giving him.

"I'll go ask around the town. Kiro, you take the park. Nemo..." He tossed a paper bag at me, I barely caught it since my arms were still half-numb from the cart workout. "...eat your lunch and make sure Vicious does his job. We'll meet back here in an hour."

"Right!" Kiro said, dashing off in the direction of Mushroom Park.

Vicious grumbled something, but went over to the largest cart and began pulling out firewood.

I opened the bag as Leon departed and grinned at the food inside. "Thank you, Leon!" I called out to him, before dropping onto the ground and starting to eat.

xxx

By the time I had finished eating, Vicious had only finished one piece of wood. Sure, I had practically inhaled my lunch, but he was still going much slower than he usually did. He must have been too preoccupied by Alanis being missing to focus. I guessed he was only finishing one every fifteen minutes, since he only had four done by the time Leon and Kiro returned.

Leon hadn't had much luck, commenting about how everyone he went to question either ran in the opposite direction or gave him suspicious looks. Fortunately, Kiro was much more of a people-person than Leon. Or rather, a kid-person. She had spoken to the kids Alanis played with around town and one of them told her Alanis kept going on about all the stories she had read about Ellinia and wishing she could see it.

"So you think she went to Ellinia?" Leon wondered.

"That makes sense." I said, thinking back. "She always had a fascination with nature and magic. Hell, she told me it was the first place she was going to visit when she was old enough to leave home. I should have thought of it sooner."

"Why didn't you?" Leon asked, glaring at me.

I glared right back. "Thanks to your firewood haul, a late lunch and you making us skip breakfast this morning, my mind was too focused on how much pain I was in to think clearly."

"She couldn't go to Ellinia, though! I mean, the monsters-" Vicious began.

"Monsters wouldn't be too much of an issue for her." I said, scratching my head.

Kiro was by the smallest cart, spinning one of the sticks absent-mindedly. "You mean they leave kids alone? That's nice of them."

Leon looked at her, clearly wondering if she was being serious.

I just sighed. "No, Kiro. It's because I... well, I taught her a bit about how to avoid monsters and fight when she needs to. Maple may be rock-bottom on the list of dangerous places in the world, but there are still threats. Clint couldn't teach her much since Artemis was so against it... so Alanis asked me to teach her a bit. I didn't see the harm, really." I glanced at Vicious. "And if you breath a word of that to Clint or Artemis, I'll stick to the idea of beating you up."

"Geez... what's got you so violent today?" Vicious inquired, taking more wood off the cart.

"I've been working for a pair of slave-drivers named Leon and Nella practically non-stop for the past two weeks, and now this happens. My normal partly-sunny disposition is overcast at the moment." I said, trying to keep my voice even.

"I'd hate to see a thunderstorm." Vicious commented.

"By now, you'd be unconscious from a mallet upside the head if it was even rainy." I stated. Then noticed Leon and Kiro giving me curious looks. "What?"

Kiro pocketed the stick. "What are you talking about the weather for? Besides, the sky's clear today."

"Yours always is." Leon grinned. Kiro looked even more confused at this, but didn't get a chance to speak before he continued. "If you're feeling stressed, you might want to just rest up here. If the kid's only gone to Ellinia, Kiro and I can find her."

I shook my head. "No way. If she used what I taught her to get there, it's partly my fault she's gone. I wouldn't be able to relax with her missing, anyway."

"Suit yourself." Leon shrugged. "Let's get going, then. Vicious, I expect that wood to be processed by the time we get back. Got it?"

Vicious looked from Leon to the overloaded carts and back. "Right..."

"See what I mean?" I said when Leon and Kiro had gotten out of earshot. "A slave-driver."

Vicious nodded, getting to work as I hurried after them.

xxx

Leon and Kiro chose to walk to Ellinia, looking for Alanis along the way. I, on the other hand, volunteered myself to get there first via return scroll and save my already sore legs the effort. Leon didn't seem to happy about it, but I'd teleported quickly enough after telling him the idea he didn't have a chance to get a word in. No doubt he was going to give me crap about it later.

However, I'd forgotten the biggest problem with return scrolls. When you arrive at your destination, you're about ten feet off the ground to keep from teleporting into somebody, which can lead to very messy consequences. The higher arrival prevents that, but it doesn't keep you from landing _on_ somebody. Which was the unfortunate case this time. Not to mention the human-cushion I hit was wearing a helmet with horns. Lucky me.

"Whoever made those things needs a kick in the head." I complained, rubbing my rear and hoping there wasn't a large tear out of my pants now.

"The only one going to get kicked is you, if you don't get off me!" The person I landed on snapped.

"Wouldn't it be kind of hard to kick me when I'm lying on your legs?" I asked, pushing myself up and taking a couple steps away from the irritated warrior.

"Oh, shut up. That sounds like something my brother would say." The warrior replied, getting to his feet and brushing the dirt off his armor. He glanced over his shoulder at me and stared for a moment. "Hey, don't I know you?"

"I don't meet many other adventurers working with someone as antisocial as Leon, so I don't have many faces to remember. Makes it easy to recall certain faces like yours." I said, crossing my arms. "Obviously it's not the same for you, Lucas."

He blinked, thought for a moment, then got the expression that's usually accompanied by a lightbulb over someone's head in cartoons. "Ah, my Brother's rival! Nemo, right?"

It was my turn to blink at that. "Yes, but... since when am I Austin's rival?"

"That's what he calls you. Something about proving the superiority of crossbows to bows. He's always like that with people that use normal bows, though." He explained, turning to face me. "Speaking of my Brother, have you seen him recently? He was supposed to meet me here a couple hours ago and he still hasn't turned up. I'm getting worried."

"I haven't seen him... but Austin's missing too?" I wondered. "Great, more problems."

"What do you mean him too?"

"I came here looking for a friend of mine. She ran off a few days ago and I'm pretty sure she came here. Have you seen her? Somewhere between four and five feet tall, bright red hair, answers to Alanis."

Lucas shook his head. "Nope, sorry."

"Damn." I grumbled, looking up. "Well, I guess I'll check with Grendel. If Alanis did come here, I'm betting she went to meet him at least once."

"I'll go with you, maybe he can use some sort of spell to find my Brother too."

xxx

Lucas tapped his foot impatiently on the wooden floor, and the clanging his steel boots were giving off made me want to break something. Like his leg. I wasn't keen on waiting either, but it's not like someone as important as Grendel was an easy person to meet with. Oh wait, yes it was. Most days he didn't even close the door to his house. Sure up-and-coming mages sought him out daily, but they never took long to set up and shove out the door. At least if things here worked the same way as when I became an archer.

Of course, none of that mattered right now. The normally open door was locked, and the glowing magic runes on the door informed anyone passing by that he was out. It didn't specify where he had gone, or when he would return either, which added to my frustration. I started to think that maybe being vague and rather annoying was a prerequisite for Mages, but since the only ones I knew well were Kiro and Artemis I wrote it off as a biased idea.

With no other ideas, I left Lucas on the doorstep and wandered off to ask around town about Alanis. Normally, getting simple information from most people on Victoria was easy. Then again, usually Leon or Kiro asked during our jobs, and they carry a lot of intimidation and cheeriness respectively, which probably helps in being persuasive. I, on the other hand, am as scary as a snail and as bubbly as week-old soda pop. I used to think it was only having contact with Clint and his family regularly for the past few years that killed most of my ability to convince people I wasn't just some scruffy oddball, but after finding out Kiro only had her adoptive Father for most of her life, it didn't seem like a valid excuse anymore.

After getting funny looks from almost half the people in Ellinia, I finally met someone who was happy to tell me that she had seen someone matching Alanis' description earlier leaving town toward Perion. I thought it was odd she would be going that way, but was glad I had some sort of a lead. I was just on my way out of town when that oh-so-familiar voice called out.

"Yo, Nemo! Wait up!"

Not slowing my pace at all, I waved back without looking. "In a hurry, Lucas. No time to stand around right now."

The warrior kept running until he fell into pace beside me, panting. "Damn it. Weapon aside, you remind me way too much of Austin. He never slows down for me either."

"I can't imagine why." I muttered, feeling a bit of sympathy for Austin, it couldn't be easy to have a Brother like this guy. No wonder he vanished. "What did you want?"

"Well, Austin was on his way here from Perion, so I figured I'd head there and see if he got held up. If I'm lucky, I'll meet him on the road." He explained. "Besides, after seeing you under those slimes, I'm betting you could use a bodyguard."

I scowled at him, simply because he was probably right. After being stuck with Leon for so long, I wasn't used to fighting monsters on my own, but still... why him of all people? Why not someone more female? Someone female I could flirt with and wouldn't punch me in the face for it. Hell, that's a pipe dream... I'd settle for someone less annoying of either sex. Mina was wrong, I've got no luck at all.

xxx

Shortly after the forest parted and made way for the desert around Perion, Lucas and I were intercepted by a kid about Alanis's age. I just stared down at him as he peered up at me from under a fancy blue wizard's steeple hat, grinning after making a very tempting offer.

"Come on, a hundred mesos a stick is easy money! I'm sure guys like you could use it!" He said, slightly bouncing in place and making his oversized blue robe kick up sand.

Ignoring the last little insult, he was right. It was easy, and if it wasn't some sort of trick I could split it with Leon and Kiro and we could take the next few days off at the least. However, Alanis was more important than a vacation.

"Thanks, but no thanks, kid. I'm looking for someone and don't have the time to play monster hunter for you." I said, walking around him and continuing on.

"You don't have to be rude, Ne-" Lucas began, but was cut off by the little mage.

"Hey! I'm not playing around here! I need to get these sticks for Grendel!" He shouted. "This is important!"

I looked over my shoulder, raising an eyebrow at him. "What, the great mage sent you out for kindling?"

"Of course not! This is a challenge! I'm one of the most promising students he has next to some jerk, and he sent us out to collect sticks! Whoever gets more in two hours gets an advanced lesson! I _have_ to get it or else that jerk will!"

I scowled at him. "Okay, that gives me less reason to help you. Hasn't anyone ever told you it's not right to cheat on tests?"

"It's not cheating, it's making sure the one who deserves it gets the prize! Better me than some punk from a backwater island like Maple!" He insisted.

"Maple?" I raised an eyebrow at him. "This other kid, what's their name?"

"Alanis-something. I try not to associate with pe- hey! Where are you going?"

I had turned and kept walking right after he said her name. If Alanis was hunting stumps for Grendel, I knew a few places she could be. It also meant she must have started mage training... her Mother was _not_ going to be happy about that. Luckily I'd only have to face Clint, who'd probably just grin and congratulate Alanis for sticking with her dream.

"Don't ignore me!" The kid yelled.

"Sorry, find someone else to help on your little hunt or man up and do it yourself." I called back.

"D-do you have any idea who my Father is? If you help me, you'll have a good reputation with him too!"

"No I don't know, but more importantly, I don't care."

"Even if it's Jonathan Devric?"

I stopped dead at that. Devric. Hell, there's a name that brought back memories and emotions... ones that managed to even push Alanis out of my mind for the moment. Glancing back at the kid, I tried to judge his age. He had to be about the same as Alanis, or a little younger... which meant... "Jacob?"

He blinked. "So... you have heard of us!"

I turned and approached as he went off on some little rant. I ignored whatever he was saying, gritting my teeth and trying to settle the pounding in my head brought on by the sudden surge of anger brought on by hearing that name again. Once the kid was in arm's reach, I grabbed the front of his robes and lifted him off the ground with one hand. He fell dead silent, a look of shock on his face.

Lucas took a quick step toward us. "Nemo, what the hell are you-"

"You stay out of this." I snapped, keeping a vicious glare on Jacob. "Kid, Devric's not a name you should toss around at random. They've got their share of enemies, you know. People with longstanding grudges. Like me."

"Y-you've... got something against my Father?" He stuttered.

"He's scum as far as I'm concerned, but he's not the one I want to pitch off a cliff. That's something I've reserved for your big brother."

"W-what... w-why..." The kid next to babbling, possibly bawling, I didn't care much either way at the moment. However, the look Lucas was giving me made me think he was almost as freaked out about my sudden change as the brat was. I wasn't, I knew my temper could flare like this even though it rarely did since... hell, since I'd moved to Maple Island. This little punk was bringing me back to a time well before that, no wonder I was losing my cool.

Taking a deep breath to try and calm myself down a bit, I looked Jacob straight in the eye. "Shut up, do your own damn work for once in your life instead of hiring goons and start learning to rely on something other than a name. You'll be better off." I said, abruptly dropping him onto his backside and turning to leave. "Oh, and next time you see your Brother Julie, tell him Nemo says hi and that if I ever see him again I'll put an arrow through him."

I stalked off, the thought of Alanis still being in trouble drifting back into my mind at last. This silence I had left was broken by the hurried sound of boots meeting dirt and Lucas' voice.

"Nemo!" He called out, I ignored him. At least until he screamed. I looked back to find him with his back to me and his shield at the ready.

"Idiot! Why'd you get in the way?" Jacob shouted, though I couldn't see him since Lucas was between us.

"Because attacking someone when their back is turned is one of the lowest things you can do, regardless of the circumstances!" He yelled back. "And if you try that again, I'll knock you in the head with my shield, kid or not!"

It was quiet for a few moments and Lucas lowered his shield, turning to join me. I saw Jacob's retreating back behind him, along with the scratches on his shield and one across the right side of his face where a magic claw spell had struck. Once the intial thought of the punk trying to do that do me and how much I wanted to squish him like a bug with my mallet passed, I nodded to Lucas since I was having trouble finding my voice.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

I shook my head, since I couldn't believe he was asking _me_ that and because, well, I wasn't. Not after finding out a simple name could make be crack like that. Either the old me was just waiting to come back, or I was just overworked. I hoped the latter, it'd be easier to deal with.

I returned my attention to Lucas, and the blood working its way down his cheek. "I think that's my line."

"I'll be all right, taken worse hits than that before." He assured me, grinning like a fool.

"I'm sure." I removed a small healing potion from my jacket and offered it to him. "Thanks."

Lucas took it as he passed. "It's what I'm here for. Want to explain what that was all about, though? Who's Dev-whatever?"

Heaving an irritated sigh, I figured he did deserve something for watching my back like that. "Devric, they're big shots on Orbis."

"You know them?"

"I knew Julie... er... Julian. Sort of."

He stared at me, curious and waiting for a better explanation.

"The guy helped make my life hell for like ten years, alright? I have plenty of reason to detest him and his damn family." I snapped, glaring at the ground. "It's in the past, and as far as I'm concerned it can stay there."

Nodding and looking at the road ahead, Lucas kept his mouth shut even though it was pretty obvious he wanted to know more. Of course, I was also making it pretty obvious I didn't want to get into it, and he wasn't dense enough to push it. Lucky for both of us, I was letting myself get so worked up it's hard to say what I'd do on sheer instinct. I also couldn't tell who was more angry with, Devric or myself for letting myself get like this.

All the time on Maple and I still ended up like this. Guess I just wasn't ready to deal with things from my life before that. I'd have to avoid them whenever possible, even though there were some things I simply couldn't. _Avoid them, ha._ I thought harshly. _Looks like it's not just my muscles that are lacking strength._

"You said her name was Alanis, right?" Lucas asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

"Yeah."

"Okay, so let's find her. Austin can take care of himself long enough for me to help you find a defenseless little girl out here."

I couldn't help grinning at that. "Thanks, Luc."

xxx

We found Alanis at the third place I considered looking, my mood much improved since the run-in with Jacob. Especially after seeing the look on Lucas' face after we first spotted her, it almost made me burst out laughing.

"That's... Alanis?" He muttered in shock.

The "defenseless little girl" as he had called her before was in the midst of a horde of stumps, laughing like a lunatic as they exploded from a single shot of her energy bolt spell. "Let's see those slimes on Maple pick on me now!" She practically cackled.

"Aww, look. She's having fun." I said, shaking from silent laughter at her display.

"She's being reckless." He mumbled.

As if on cue, one of the stumps didn't break after she hit it and she didn't notice, having turned to deal with others. I swore, but was in a good position to take it out for her. Stumbling with an arrow, it barely touched my bowstring before something struck and it toppled over.

"Nice shot." Lucas commented.

"Yeah, nice..." I murmured, waving the arrow I was still holding in front of his face. "...but it wasn't me."

"Would you be careful?" Someone called out over Alanis' laughter.

She quieted down. "Oh, you're such a spoil sport." Alanis complained, blowing away the last three nearby stumps and spinning to face the speaker.

An archer stepped out of the nearby shadows. "I just don't want you getting hurt, alright?"

"Sure, sure. Makes you sound like my parents though." She grumbled.

"You don't have to tell me about family that worries too much." The archer commented.

Lucas had already taken off and was halfway to them before I hurried to catch up. "Austin! This is what you've been doing?"

The archer glanced at him and sighed. "Speak of the devil."

"Nemo's here too!" Alanis said brightly after catching sight of me tailing after the speedy warrior.

"Glad to see you're still in one piece." I said, giving her a pat on the head once I was close enough. "Your Uncle's worried sick, you know."

"Oh boo." She swatted my hand away. "I left him a note telling him I was going to Ellinia, if he was really worried he would have come get me himself."

I thought back, and was sure Vicious never mentioned that. "What note?"

She frowned. "He didn't find it? That bonehead, I left it laying on my bed!"

Shaking my head and making a mental note to bop Vicious with my bow for not thinking to check her room for clues in the first place, I set the arrow I was still holding and let it fly at another stump that was wandering by. "Well, his missing the obvious aside and seeing as Austin's been found, let's get you those sticks for Grendel."

"You're going to help? That's great, but... how did you know about that?" She wondered.

"We ran into your competition on the way here." Lucas spoke up quickly, clearly so I wouldn't have a chance to slip back into that mood at the thought of Jacob. "He was hiring help, so us helping you would make things even."

"He was getting help? That jerk! I'll show him!" She turned and unleashed another volley of energy on a few stumps that had been unfortunate enough to be nearby. "Watch my back again, Austin. I'm going back in!" With that, she charged off in search of stumps to massacre.

"If she just started, how in the world is she tossing around magic like that without getting tired?" Lucas wondered as Austin chased after her.

I found myself laughing again. "Well, her Mom is a pretty powerful mage, and knowing Alanis she probably started teaching herself magic a long time ago using the old tomes on it I saw sitting around their house."

"Yeah, that might explain it." Lucas started after the two of them. "Coming?"

"Of course. I don't want to lose track of her again."

xxx

Another hour or so of exploding stumps later, and we headed back to Ellinia to meet the deadline Grendel had set. When we got back, the door was wide open. Muttering about that as we entered, the great mage was in his usual spot, hovering at the far end of the room. Jacob was already there, standing next to a huge pile of sticks and donning a smirk to match. I thought it dropped a little after seeing me, but that's to be expected.

"Welcome back, Alanis. Please place what you've collected on the floor there." Grendel said calmly, gesturing to the floor and making a glowing white circle appear.

Alanis and the rest of us dumped them onto the floor as requested, before stepping back and looking at the piles next to each other. Jacob's easily looked like it had more, but the floating mage just stared down as the piles, as if silently assessing them.

"Very well then." He murmured, holding his left hand out and flicking his wrist. Jacob's pile floated into the air, I thought I saw Grendel's eyebrow twitch, and he snapped his fingers. The floating sticks vanished in a puff of smoke. "A fine collection, to be sure. Now, Alanis." He did the same with his right hand and Alanis' mound floated into the air.

At least, that's what I was expecting to happen. Not even half the pile of sticks drifted into the air and that time I clearly saw Grendel raise his eyebrows. "Well now, this is impressive." He said, snapping his fingers again and making the floating sticks vanish. "Alanis wins my little challenge."

"What?" Jacob exclaimed. "But- but-"

"You had more? Yes, you did. Nearly twice as many, in fact." Grendel stated calmly. "However, none of them passed my inspection."

"Inspection? What... what kind of-"

Grendel raised a hand and Jacob fell silent. If that was a spell, it was one I'm sure one a lot of people that knew him wished they could do. "Each person's magic is unique to them. If you're skilled enough and know what to look for, you can tell who used what spell. Each of these stick remaining in Alanis' collection all have her... magical fingerprint on them, if you will. None of the ones you brought in bared yours." He explained simply.

"You didn't even get one stick yourself? Ha!" Alanis picked one up out of her pile and pointed it at him. "What, you think mages have it easy? You gotta work twice as hard to practice magic than you do to fire a bow or swing a sword, that's what my Mom always says!"

A chuckle came from the old man. "Yes, that certainly sounds like her."

"It also sounds like a typical Devric to never do work himself." I commented, apparently more loudly than I intended since everyone looked at me.

"I can't believe this!" Jacob snapped, thankfully apparently unable to not be the center of attention. "This backwater brat beat me even though I collected more? Who cares how I got them, I got more!"

I sighed. _Way to miss the point entirely you spoiled little punk._

"You'll be hearing from my Father about this!" He shouted, storming out the door. Silence followed, aside from a light snickering coming from myself at both the typical Devric reaction to loss and Alanis sticking her tongue out at his back.

"Well then, about your prize, Alanis." Grendel said, acting as if the outburst had never happened.

They talked quietly between each other for a couple seconds while Lucas and Austin went to gathering up the sticks again. I was about to help when a voice to my right made me jump in surprise.

"What did we miss?"

Taking a few quick breaths, I gave him an irritated look. _How the hell is he so stealthy with that giant sword?_ "Oh, the usual random nonsense we normally get into. Be happy you got left out of it this time, Leon."

"Ohh, but I like the random nonsense! It's always such fun!" Kiro chirped, patting Leon on the shoulder. "Isn't that right?"

Leon just shrugged in reply.

"Ah, Kiro. It's a pleasure to see you again." Grendel said, traces of cheerfulness in his voice. "Are you well?"

"Of course!" She stepped between Leon and I, throwing her arms around us. "I've got these two to keep me company now, so I'm doing fine."

"That's good to hear."

"Alright, let's get back to Henesys so I can tell my Uncle how much of a bonehead he is." Alanis said, her arms wrapped around a book nearly half her size.

"That's your prize?" I wondered.

"Yep! Grendel said it would help me improve where I need to, so I'll start on it tonight." She stumbled a bit as she tried to walk with it. "Maybe tomorrow, depending on how fast I can get back carrying it."

I was about to offer to carry it for her, but Leon snagged it first, tucking it under his free arm and turning to leave. "There, now we'll make it back sooner." He said, walking out the door. "Provided you three get moving!"

Alanis and Kiro quickly said goodbye to Grendel before jogging after Leon. I did the same with Austin and Lucas, who were looking a bit surprised as the sticks they were gathering up suddenly poofed at the snap of Grendel's fingers. They got enough sense back to wave as I ran out the door after hearing a grumpy swordsman shout for me to hurry up again.

With that little adventure behind me, I tried to reflect fondly on it, but had some difficulty. My thoughts kept drifting to the Devrics, which just ended with my mood souring. I was probably right about what I had said before. If I ever ran into Julian again, I probably would shoot him without even thinking about it, but hopefully that would never happen. I certainly had no plans to go back to Orbis. As people unhappy with me go, I'm just happy I won't be around when Artemis finds out Alanis is officially a mage. She'd probably find a way to blame me.

"So Alanis, have you thought about what kind of magic you're going to specialize in when you get the chance?"

"Well, I'll probably go with what my Mom did. That seems like a fun choice."

"Oh, I'm sure. Just promise me you won't start taking after her as far as your personality goes and I'll be happy."

"Forget her Mother, her Uncle's the problem. He'd better be done by the time we get back, or he'll be finding out the definition of his name first hand."


End file.
